Quote:
Originally Posted by bmer  Actually you're wrong. The CLK in fact is a 3 series coupé competitor. The C-Sportcoupé was made to compete with the 3 Series Compact. BMW later decided to ditch it in favor of the 1 series. |
YOU may consider the CLK to be a 3 series competitor, but Mercedes has been pricing the CLK to be a much higher end car than the C-class and 3 series.
Back in 2005 (when the C-coupe was still available in Canada), here were the prices (Cdn $) of some cars of interest:
C230 Sport Coupe: $36450
C320 Sport Coupe: $40600
C230 Sedan: $37950
C240 Sedan: $42250
C320 Sedan: $53970
CLK320 Coupe: $63490
CLK500 Coupe: $77750
E320 Sedan: $72050
E500 Sedan: $83500
At least in North America, the CLK was priced WAY above the 3 series coupe/sedans (which had prices very similar to the C-coupe and C-class sedans).
Maybe in other markets like Europe, the CLK could be bought for cheaper because some lower end engines were offerred. We never had cars like a CLK240 or CLK200 over here.
As such, I still maintain that Mercedes is not using the CLK to compete with the much cheaper 3 series, at least in North America. The CLK has always been marketed as a higher end luxury coupe.
But having said all this, I have always thought the W209 CLK was overpriced for what you got, especially when you know it was actually based on the W203 C-class.