Mercedes-Benz W187 - Commercial

Commercial

The saloon went out of production in May, 1954; the Cabriolet models continued for another 15 months until August 1955.

The body of the W187 saloon was closely modelled on the 1938 Mercedes-Benz W153, and despite the modern engine that powered it, already looked old fashioned to many observers on the day it was introduced. Two years earlier, in 1949, the Borgward Hansa had served notice that car design had moved on since the 1930's, and the manufacturer's own 1953 W120 confirmed that "modern" European cars were following the North American trend to lower wider bodied designs. This has been seen an explanstion for the W187's own unusually short production run of slightly above three years for the saloon and less than five years for the longest lived of the Cabriolet models.

The W187 was immediately replaced with the Ponton bodied six cylinder Mercedes-Benz 220a (W180). When the cabriolet was withdrawn in 1955 there was no direct successor. However, slightly more than a year later the all-new Mercedes-Benz 220S Cabriolet and Coupé appeared, respectively in July and October 1956, using, like the saloon on which they were based, a modern ponton style body.