As the seventh generation of Mercedes-Benz's venerable mid-size, mid-luxury sedan winds down, the firm is proud to announce that it's produced 1.5 million units of the E-Class since its introduction six years ago. Broken down by body style, there were 1,270,000 sedans delivered to customers and 230,000 wagons.

Germany and the U.S. represented the strongest market for the latest generation E-Class, with each country taking approximately 25 percent of total production. Most popular models were the E 220 CDI and E350. Mercedes launched its clean diesel BlueTEC technology in this E-Class, specifically the '07 E 300 BlueTEC available in Europe.

To date, Mercedes has sold about 12 million of its mid-size luxury sedans in total, including the E-Class and its predecessors. The mid-size Mercedes sedan story began in 1953 with the W120 "Ponton" 180. The fourth generation was the legendary 123-series, of which over 2.3 million were sold between 1977 and 1985, and which helped popularized the diesel as a relevant engine for the passenger car.

The 300TD turbodiesel wagon I just drove from Atlanta to Los Angeles on waste vegetable oil is a venerable E-Class predecessor, and a legendary 123-series at that. Stay tuned as I pick the car from the paint and body shop this weekend and get a first glimpse at its body, finally removed of rust, dents, and bathed in a fresh coat of black pearl metallic paint.
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