With India under complete lockdown, carmakers have had to resort to different ways to keep things updated. Mercedes-Benz India, which has led the premium car space from the front for years, has made a couple of changes to the C-Class range without making any noise. The first one concerns the petrol-powered variants, and the second one is the introduction of a new range-topper.

Instead of a 1.5-litre engine, with mild-hybrid tech, the petrol-powered variants (C 200) of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class now get a 2.0-litre motor. The new engine produces 201bhp, which is 20bhp more than what the sedan got from the smaller engine. Weirdly, the 0-100kmph sprint time (7.7 seconds) and top speed (239kmph) remain unchanged. Another shocker is that this 2.0-litre motor is more potent than the engine that powers the GLC 200 and the E 200. Mercedes-Benz is offering the C 200 in two trim levels – Prime and Progressive. The former wears a price tag of Rs 40.9 lakh, whereas the latter costs Rs 46.54 lakh.

With the entry-level range sorted, time now to look at the other end of the scale. The Mercedes-AMG C 43 4MATIC Coupe (priced at Rs 75 lakh) is no longer the top-tier C-Class in India. The Mercedes-AMG C 63 S has claimed that title. With a sticker price of Rs 1.39 crore, it costs nearly twice as much as the previous range-topper. However, its package more than makes up for the price difference.

Propulsion for the C 63 S comes courtesy of a 4.0-litre, twin-turbo V8, a 9-speed AMG-spec automatic transmission and the 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system. With 503bhp/700Nm on tap, the car can hit 100kmph from nothing in 4 seconds and reach an electronically-limited top speed of 250kmph. Although the latter is the same as the C 43 offers, the former is down by 0.7 seconds.

The C-Class has been one of the consistent performers for Mercedes-Benz in India. The sedan competes with the Jaguar XE, BMW 3 Series and the Audi A4 (updated version coming soon). Later this year, Volvo will join the party with the new S60.