By Samuel Ee

DESPITE the current economic gloom, the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class has managed to garner more than 40,000 orders in Western Europe - even before it goes on sale on March 28 there.

'This is a relatively huge number because the E-Class is a premium car and it is not in the showroom yet,' said Frank Bracke, head of global communications for Mercedes- Benz.

In 2008, Western Europe accounted for 57 per cent of total Mercedes-Benz sales. In the US, Merc's second biggest market after Germany, the E-Class will only be available in April. It is scheduled to arrive in Singapore in the last quarter of 2009.

Speaking during the press preview of the car in Madrid, Spain, last week, Mr Bracke said that the over 40,000 bookings for Europe were collected over a two-month period after Mercedes-Benz opened its order book in mid-January.

Mathias Geisen, the product manager for the new E-Class, added that the German luxury carmaker is 'very satisfied' with the order bank. 'It is good to know we have customers who trust us and our product even without a test drive,' he said.

But when asked if the number of bookings could have been higher if not for the economic crisis, he replied: 'It is difficult to say.'

The current E-Class, which was launched in 2002, has notched up sales of 1.5 million units worldwide to date. This ubiquitous saloon is driven by everyone from taxi drivers to top executives and can account for as much as 30 per cent of annual Merc production, depending on the model lifecycle.

Last year, global sales of Mercedes-Benz brand vehicles came to 1,121,700 passenger cars, excluding 134,700 units of smart, the diminutive two-seater city car.

In Germany, the popularity of the E-Class has helped Mercedes-Benz to become the best-selling premium brand there. Overall, it is the country's second most popular marque, after mainstream brand Volkswagen.

As one of the three- pointed star's core models, Mr Geisen said, the E-Class is 'the heart of Mercedes'.

'Everyone knows about the car because of its brand values of comfort, safety, design and durability. These are what the E-Class, and Mercedes- Benz, stand for,' he said.

The new car has a novel front-end treatment with two pairs of squarish headlights - a departure from the round lamps of the two previous models. Mr Geisen said that the styling of the new-generation E-Class was intended to be 'dynamic but not aggressive'.

He explained: 'The design direction from the marketing perspective is that status and serenity must be expressed.'

This article was first published in The Business Times.