This week-end in Beijing, Mercedes will show its new concept-car: the Shooting Break. It gives a pretty good idea of what the next CLS will look like, but the name sounds strange. We usually call a wagon based on a coupe, a shooting brake, but there’s no mistake, I can explain. The CLS has long been advertised as a four-door coupe, and this concept of a CLS wagon could have been called a four-door shooting brake, but that wouldn’t have been original enough. Mercedes choose to do a little wordplay with french. Break means wagon in french… But that’s not important. What matters is that the next CLS might come in 2 flavors, a sedan and a wagon, and what matters even more is that it will come with a new V6. Pity that when you lift the hood, you can’t tell what it is. It might as well be an inline-6, with that huge plastic coverall.

A 60-degree V6 with a 3.5-liter displacement, making 306 hp and 273 lb-ft of torque. That is a strong improvement since the actual 3.5 liter from the C350 is rated at 268 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. But wait, there’s another version of that engine in Europe. With direct fuel injection, it’s making 292 hp.

We guess that engine wouldn’t accept american gasoline, whereas the next generation should. Most important, it should get better fuel economy with a super sharp spray-guided direct fuel injection with the latest generation of piezo-electric injection valves which enable multiple injections during each cycle. A smart computer will enable lean operation whenever possible, and this engine shall come standard with a Start-Stop function to avoid unnecessary idling.

The new CLS shall come at the end of this year, we’re not sure if this new engine will begin at the same time, but we certainly hope so.