The 500 E from Mercedes-Benz was one of the first attempts to tackle the performance luxury sedan segment.
It appeared in 1991 and it was developed and built by Porsche in its factory, in Zuffenhausen. It was the first 4-door vehicle built in the Porsche factory, long before the Panamera was even on the marketing list.

The short story is that Mercedes-Benz board had decided to built a performance vehicle out of the well-known W124 E-Class. It took the biggest engine, a 5.0-liter V8, and somehow installed it in the engine bay. But to do this the engine bay had to be enlarged. As a consequence, the front track and the whole car was wider by 56 mm (2.2”) compared to a 300 E. To keep the outside look of the vehicle and cut costs, the car had almost the same body panels except from the front, where the wheel-arches were flared.

Inside, the car had many luxury features such as automatic climate control, an electrically adjustable right side-mirror, dual airbags and an advances sound system that could be fitted with a CD-changer.

From the technical point of view, the engine was mated to a 4-speed automatic gearbox that had a winter program, when the snow-chains were installed. This program told the car to start directly in the second gear instead of first. The brakes were upgraded to support the heavy vehicle. The 500 E was heavier than a 300 E by around 380 kg (837.7 lbs).