Four prototype programmes ran alongside the main W201 development. A shorter city car. An electric drivetrain study. A convertible. And the camouflaged pre-production vehicles that ran on German roads for a year before anyone knew the 190E existed.
Before the first production W201 left Sindelfingen, hand-built pre-production vehicles ran on public roads in Germany in heavy disguise. Standard Mercedes practice applied: adhesive tape lines altered the car's visual proportions, body panels were modified or padded to confuse photographers, and the cars ran mixed into normal traffic to accumulate real-world mileage. The Vorserie programme ran from autumn 1981 through to the September 1982 public reveal at Frankfurt. Approximately 100 pre-production cars were assembled starting February 1982, before full-rate production began, to build stock ahead of launch and reduce the delivery backlog that had historically frustrated buyers of new Mercedes models.
None of the camouflaged development vehicles are in public collections. Their fate is not documented.
During the W201 development programme, Mercedes explored a further-shortened version of the platform, essentially a city car built on the W201's mechanical architecture with a significantly reduced wheelbase and overall length. The Compact concept addressed a market segment below the production 190, where packaging constraints were the primary engineering challenge. The five-link rear suspension that had been developed for the main W201 programme was a key enabler: its compact geometry allowed more interior space per unit of exterior length than any of the alternative rear axle configurations tested. The Compact study did not proceed to production. The W201 platform's minimum practical dimensions were determined by the five-link geometry and the crash structure required by Mercedes's safety standards.
Prototype(s) remain in Mercedes archives. Not publicly displayed.
Mercedes used the W201 platform as a test vehicle for electric drivetrain research during the early 1980s. The Elektro "E", an internal designation, not a planned model name, replaced the petrol engine with an electric motor and a battery pack sized to evaluate range and performance within the W201's packaging constraints. The research context was the 1970s oil crises: European and American regulations were pushing manufacturers to demonstrate alternative drivetrain capability. Mercedes's Elektro research extended across multiple platforms in the early 1980s; the W201 was one of several vehicles used. The Elektro "E" was a research tool, not a production candidate. Battery technology of the period produced vehicles with limited range, heavy weight penalties, and long charging times that made production unviable at the price point the 190E occupied.
Research vehicle. Current location not publicly confirmed.
A convertible body on the W201 platform was evaluated during the development programme. The Cabrio prototype addressed the question of whether a soft-top variant could be derived from the production saloon without a significant re-engineering of the body structure. Open-top derivation of a saloon requires substantial reinforcement of the floor, sills, and A-pillars to compensate for the loss of the roof's contribution to body stiffness. In the W201's case, the compact exterior dimensions and the specific geometry of the five-link rear axle created packaging constraints that made a production-viable convertible structurally difficult without compromising either the safety performance or the ride characteristics that defined the car. The Cabrio study was not carried to production. Mercedes's open-top offering in the W201 era remained the SL (R107), a substantially larger and more expensive car. A proper W201-based convertible was never offered from any source.
Prototype exists. Believed to be in Mercedes heritage collection.
Mercedes-Benz did not publicise prototype and concept vehicles during the 1970s and early 1980s with anything like the thoroughness applied today. The Vorserie vehicles, the Compact study, the Elektro research car, and the Cabrio prototype were internal engineering tools. Some appeared briefly in Mercedes publications years after the fact; none were shown publicly while the W201 programme was active. The most detailed German-language documentation available is on mb190.de, which has assembled period photographs and specifications over two decades. English-language primary sources are almost non-existent. If you have documentation, photographs, or knowledge of surviving prototype vehicles, get in touch.
