By John Redfern Cast your mind back to the early 2000s, a time when Mercedes-Benz seemingly embarked upon a plan to cover every possible niche in the automotive market. The results included oddities such as the R-Class, along with a proliferation of coupes and ‘shooting brake’ estates. Time has moved on, however, and Mercedes is now attempting to downsize and make better sense of its model range. This means the new CLE must replace not just the C-Class coupe and convertible, but also the larger E-Class versions as well. With buyers continuing to pivot to all things SUV, along with electric car…