X218: CLS Shooting Brake

X218 is the five-door, five-seat CLS Shooting Brake. It belongs to the same 218 series as the four-door C218 CLS Coupé, but adds an extended roof, a large tailgate and a centre rear seat. Its most unusual option was a genuine wooden luggage-compartment floor, built from layered veneer rather than a single slab. Sources

Five layers, then CNC and laser cutting

The optional designo wooden load floor used American cherry veneer with dark fumed-oak inlays and aluminium protective rails. A period Hong Kong report credited to Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong offered it as an option. Sources

Selected veneer sheets were glued and pressed by hand in five layers for dimensional stability. A CNC machine then milled the blanks to their final shape; the surfaces were ground smooth and impregnated. The dark fumed-oak inlays were laser-cut into strips only 3 mm wide. Sources

The longitudinal aluminium rails had a brushed finish and rubber inserts. They protected the wood and provided anti-slip contact surfaces for luggage. Sources

A fifth seat and a separate cargo-restraint system

The rear compartment combined two contoured outer seats with a centre position. Its backrest split one-third/two-thirds and could be folded from the luggage compartment. Mercedes-Benz quoted 590–1,550 litres of load space, depending on the seat configuration, and an automatically opening tailgate as standard in its original international specification. The contemporary Hong Kong material also described five seats, the same volume range and the automatic-opening tailgate. Sources

The Shooting Brake tailgate’s stored opening-angle limit let an owner save a position within the permitted upper part of its travel. Subsequent opening stopped at that position, making repeated loading under restricted overhead space more convenient. It recorded a chosen angle rather than measuring the ceiling; the manual required clearance for full opening while setting it. Sources

The optional EASY-PACK load-securing kit, described in the German-market owner’s manual, used movable brackets that locked into loading rails. Its luggage-holder strap restrained light items against a sidewall, while a telescopic rod spanned the left and right rails to hold a load against the rear seats. These adjustable restraints did a different job from the wooden floor’s protective strips. Sources

Rear air suspension carried the load

The original Shooting Brake’s international specification included load-bearing rear air suspension with automatic levelling to compensate for carrying luggage. The regular CLS 350, type 218.959, paired steel coil springs at the front with air springs at the rear. Sources

For the original international CLS 500 and CLS 500 4MATIC, Mercedes-Benz listed all-round AIRMATIC with ADS variable damping as standard. The original CLS 63 AMG instead combined front steel spring struts, rear air springs with levelling and electronically controlled dampers, also documented for the C218 AMG. Springing supports the load; damping controls suspension movement. Sources

The AMG used a wet clutch to move off

The 525 hp CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake offered in Hong Kong in January 2013 used the AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT seven-speed transmission. Its rear-wheel-drive X218 model record, type 218.974, specifies a planetary gear train and wet start-up clutch: the clutch engages drive when moving off, while the planetary gearing provides the forward ratios. See AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT for the shared explanation of that architecture. Sources

Seat cushions supported the occupant in bends and before danger

Optional active multicontour front seats on the original international X218 varied pressure in the backrest’s side cushions to adapt lateral support to the driving situation. Two dynamic settings offered slower or faster pressure build-up. On equipped cars, PRE-SAFE could also increase pressure in the seat-cushion and backrest side bolsters in certain hazardous situations, then reduce it again if the danger passed without a collision. These were two uses of the same pneumatic seat hardware; see active multicontour seats for the shared explanation. Sources

An all-wheel-drive shaft passed through a duct in the oil pan

The international CLS 63 AMG 4MATIC and CLS 63 AMG S 4MATIC, introduced during the pre-facelift period in 2013, needed a drive path to the front axle around the longitudinal V8. A period technical article preserved by 500SEC describes the transfer case as compactly integrated into the MCT transmission. It says power reached the front-left drive shaft through an intermediate shaft passing through an encapsulated duct in the engine oil pan. This packaged part of the front-drive route within the engine’s confined installation space. Sources

The manufacturer’s Shooting Brake history independently confirms standard AMG 4MATIC on the S-Model, a 33:67 front/rear torque split, and European availability of the all-wheel-drive versions in June 2013. This describes the international 2013 update, separate from the original 525 hp rear-wheel-drive Hong Kong offering. Sources

Parking assistance steered; the driver controlled movement

The original pre-facelift X218’s optional Active Parking Assist used ultrasound to measure parallel parking spaces, then operated the steering through the car’s electromechanical steering system. The driver still selected Drive or Reverse and controlled the accelerator and brakes. Sources

The system normally offered spaces on the front-passenger side. Activating the driver’s-side indicator made it offer spaces on that side as well. Hong Kong launch material also discussed Active Parking Assist alongside the standard electric power steering. Sources

Lane correction used the brakes

The original X218’s optional Active Lane Keeping Assist watched road markings with a camera at the top of the windscreen. It could first warn through steering-wheel vibration, then briefly brake on one side of the car to help return it towards its original lane. The corrective action came from asymmetric braking rather than automatic steering. Sources

In the German-market manual, corrective braking required a recognised solid line, markings on both sides of the lane and a preceding vibration warning. It operated within a stated 60–200 km/h range and slightly reduced speed. Turn indication or deliberate driver intervention could suppress or interrupt it; the function corrected a departure rather than continuously centring the car. Sources

Night vision illuminated the road with infrared

Optional Night View Assist Plus on the original X218 used invisible infrared light to illuminate the road, then showed the camera’s monochrome image on the central COMAND screen. Its pedestrian-recognition function could frame recognised people, but did not recognise animals. This was the active-infrared CLS arrangement covered in our C218 and V222 night-vision comparison, rather than the later S-Class’s additional thermal-camera system. Sources

Hong Kong introduction and facelift

The Shooting Brake was unveiled at Brooklands in June 2012 and reached European showrooms that October. Hong Kong’s documented local introduction followed in January 2013: Car1.hk’s 9 January report said it was already on sale and listed the four offers below. Edition 1 was a CLS 500 equipment version, so the four offers represented three petrol engines. Sources

Hong Kong prices, public displays and facelift availability are recorded below. Sources

Sources

1. Mercedes-Benz Public Archive, 218 series CLS Shooting Brake, 2012–2014: body identity, rear seating, optional floor and EASY-PACK kit, springing by variant, global unveiling and European showroom arrival; optional active multicontour seats, electromechanical steering, driver assistance and the 2013 AMG 4MATIC/S-Model torque distribution and European introduction.
2. Daimler Communications, Mercedes-Benz at the 2012 Paris Motor Show — Four world premieres, 27 September 2012, PRMIT28620, printed/PDF pp. 28–29: five-layer veneer manufacture, CNC shaping, laser-cut 3 mm oak strips, brushed aluminium/rubber rails and load-area packaging. The cover explicitly scopes the document to the international model range.
3. Spirit Media / 28car, 〈揉合時尚優雅、悅目設計於一身平治 CLS Shooting Brake〉, undated period report acknowledging Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong and Zung Fu: local optional wooden floor, materials, seating and cargo layout; launch discussion of electric power steering and Active Parking Assist.
4. Mercedes-Benz, CLS Owner’s Manual, document 2185840681Z102, printed pp. 48, 103 / PDF pp. 51, 106: dynamic pneumatic seat support and reversible PRE-SAFE bolster pressure; printed p. 88 / PDF p. 91: Shooting Brake tailgate opening-angle memory; printed pp. 195–197 / PDF pp. 198–200: ultrasonic parking-space measurement, steering intervention, driver-controlled acceleration/braking and parking-side selection; printed pp. 205–207 / PDF pp. 208–210: infrared night vision, COMAND image and pedestrian recognition; printed pp. 215–217 / PDF pp. 218–220: camera-based lane warning and one-sided corrective braking; printed pp. 300–301 / PDF pp. 303–304: Shooting Brake EASY-PACK load-securing kit, locking brackets, luggage-holder strap and telescopic rod. German-market manual covering optional equipment.
5. Mercedes-Benz Public Archive, CLS 350 BlueEFFICIENCY, 2012–2014 (from 03.2013: CLS 350), type 218.959: X218 identity and front/rear spring specification.
6. Car1.hk, 〈Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake 正式本地發布〉, 9 January 2013: local on-sale statement, three petrol engines, four prices and CLS 500 Edition 1 equipment.
7. Car1.hk, 〈全新平治 CLS Shooting Brake 現身海港城〉, 18 January 2013: Ocean Terminal display on 19–20 January 2013.
8. Car1.hk / Teddy Leung, 〈Mercedes-Benz CLS 400 Coupe 融入新一代設計〉, 28 December 2014: explicit introduction of both updated bodies to Hong Kong and AMG offerings; test-car prices and gearbox discussion are Coupé-specific.
9. Mercedes-Benz Public Archive, CLS 63 AMG, 2012–2014, type 218.974: rear-wheel-drive X218, original 525 hp output, MCT planetary gearing, wet start-up clutch and electrohydraulic control; the record separately identifies the March 2013 output revision.
10. 500SEC / PeterH, Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG: performance, dynamism and efficiency, 23 March 2013, “Performance-oriented all-wheel drive”: 2013 AMG 4MATIC transfer-case integration and front-left intermediate shaft through an encapsulated oil-pan duct. Period technical material preserved by a third-party enthusiast publisher, covering both Coupé and Shooting Brake; the fine routing description rests on this article, with body/variant applicability independently supported by the manufacturer history above.