The European Patent Office, which is responsible for registering IP rights across a range of extremely price sensitive industrial secrets simply doesn’t leak information. Mercedes-Benz may well have patented certain component technologies, but not the bodyshell design.

Secondly, you can see that it is photoshopped because the glasshouse design apes that of the existing C-Class. in fact, it is so similar in shape that it has to be a fake – no Mercedes-Benz designer would copy an existing design feature so shamelessly.

If you look at the rear 3/4 window, you can see an awkward kink in the line where the photochopper has cut a bit out to make the shape fit the overall proportions of the car.

Nice try, but no cigar.