Don't tell me that you planing to by one.Excellent news!![]()
Finally some real proof this car is going to happen. Won't be long now...spring 2011.
M
Uh Oh...Does this mean you might be looking to buy this one?
So basically it's an CLC witha slightly altered rear-end. Now it looks like a two door sedan/coupe, but disspointingly it doesn't look as manly as the prime rival, the 1-Series Coupe.
It's not supposed to be. No doubt it will be a prettier, elegant, and expensive, alternative to the boy racer 1.
MB is doing this because the the E Coupes's growth has left a gap in the line up, the w204 has been a blockbuster success and they can earn some premium dollars without having to invest much. It's not a true rival to the 1 coupe as such.
Call it a boy racer if you want to but there is no hiding from the fact that people are willingly paying premium money for the 1er Coupe despite that the older sibling, 3er coupe is marginally more expensive.
The 1er coupe is considered a premium car unlike the three and five door version and I commonly see city workers in suits driving a blue or silver 135i with pride. BMW carved a niche in the market with the model, Audi and Mercedes have off course been standing watchfully on the side line trying to work out how to get in on the action.
When BMW pulled the plug on the 3er compact, MB kept the C-Class Sports coupe alive. Trying to jolt some energy into the sales figures they renamed the CLC in hope that it would add some glamour to the car -- but that has clearly not been the case. Mean while, the 1er coupe has been selling well enough to warrant the development of an M version.
Hoping for third time lucky, the CLC is now getting a slightly sexier shape but yet retain the same look. Currently the pricing of the model mirror the 1er coupe though a slight notch cheaper, and I expect prices to be competative against the 1er which, despite being based on a hatch back, is the car to beat.
The success of the 1er coupe is in the tight proportions and funky two door sedan shape, but most crucially it's agility in comparison to the 3er. For the new CLC to be successful it must have strong point of difference as oppossed to just being "a two door C-Class". Despite the name change, the E-Coupe is still a CLK i.e 3-Series competitor -- both in price, engine and size.
Lol luw you're preaching to the converted. I owned a one coupe for a year remember. I loved it and I miss it. :-(
My point was simply that Mercedes is not positioning this against the 1. Deiter made it clear that mercedes is going to play to its values and strenghts. I doubt they're even trying to build a better one. Looks like they're going for a stylish coupe that's cheap to develop and cheaper than the now pricey e coupe. Don't expect this thing to carve corners like the 1.
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