German Car Zone

AFFALTERBACH, Germany — The AMG Mercedes CLK-DTM, a German stock car built to be legal for the street, was never sold in the U.S. during the production run of 100 coupes and 80 convertibles, but that may change, officials say.

Mario Spitzner, AMG-Mercedes director of marketing & sales/branding, said the company would be willing to federalize the car if there were enough customers.

"I get a lot of pressure from our best customers to bring it to the U.S.," Spitzner said.

And it's no wonder. With 582 horsepower and suspension, brakes and bodywork derived from the company's fire-breathing German Touring Car racers, the CLK-DTM rockets to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds and reaches an electronically limited top speed of 200 mph. The initial run of 100 coupes was supplemented by another 80 cabriolets for sun-worshipers with a need for speed.

For the U.S., the company would probably build even more of the cars. "We would maybe do a bigger series for the U.S.," Spitzner said. "Push us, and it may happen."

If it does, U.S. customers would probably enjoy even better performance, as the supercharged 5.5-liter V8 used in the previous cars has since been supplanted by AMG's brawny, homegrown 6.2-liter normally aspirated V8.

But the CLK and other AMG cars will not be equipped with all-wheel drive, Spitzner said, despite the increasing popularity of the technology. While admitting there are pros and cons to AWD, the system's cons literally outweigh the positives, he explained. "The first con is that you add 175 pounds to your front axle," he said.

And part of the reason many 4x4s ride high is the difficulty of packaging the driveline underneath. "Ride height would be a challenge, to be honest," Spitzner said. "If we had the Paris-Dakar version I don't think that would attract too many customers. So we have no immediate plans to go to all-wheel drive," he concluded.

Meanwhile, at parent company Mercedes, bean counters are busily trying to decide the business case for chopping the top off the beautiful, new CL-Class coupe. As a true coupe, it has no B-pillar, which greatly simplifies construction of a convertible. And the latest generation of the car sees its seatbelts mounted to the seats, a layout which also lends itself to conversion. The new car is also 15 percent stiffer than its predecessor, so it might require less reinforcement if the roof were removed.

All this suggests that CL engineers, having been denied a convertible version of the previous car, built the coupe in a way that would make the case for a convertible easier to prove. Hans Multhaupt, vice president of program management and development for S-Class, CL-Class and Maybach, hopes so. "I would like to do it," he said. But for now the decision-making wheels are turning within the company. "There has been no decision yet," he said.

What this means to you: More thrilling high-performance models are brewing at Mercedes, but snowbelters are out of luck.


http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=117330

M

I think it is a fantastic idea to take the roof off the CL.

Nice article, thanks

Looks superb.

Wouldn't this be one model too many though?

M

What I would do for a DTM cannot be said without me getting in trouble.

now i said this when the S class cab news broke..that if there where to be a cab from mercedes..it should and would be based on the CL..

other than that i would love to see more CLK DTM..but they cant give a stronger CLK DTM to the US and not to europe..and if they do europe..what will happen to the xclusivity of the old CLK DTM..

imo they should wait for another modell..or give it another name and look..

I guess the Ocean Drive Concept is clear evidence that Mercedes is serious about special limited-production vehicles. I really like the idea of limited-production models a lot. The CLS probably fits into that category also.

I always wondered why Mercedes' never made a CL Convertible. In this class, there's bound to be quite a few people who might be interested in something like this.

Or perhaps, those that have a CL also have an SL in their garage and don't need a covertible CL.

Not sure if this had been posted before, it was originally posted by Autospies:

It tells of future MB models. The translations says that the 3.5L V6 will be turboed in the next CLK and SL to make 354hp. The 5.5L V8 will go on to make 428hp in the next SL. The current CL and next CLK due to get 4Matic, the CL starting in 2007.

They say this about the next E-Class' engines:

In preparation economical Bluetec Diesels and new gasoline direct A SPLASHEs, under it three interesting six cylinder with 300, are 340 and 408 HP. With the V8 in the future a 4,6-Liter-Biturbo with 476 HP and 800 Nm marks the point of the achievement pyramid. Over it only the AMG version with invariably 514 HP ranks.

I can't see a regular E model with 476 hp and the AMG only make 514hp. Somebody must have forgot to tell them the new 6.2L V8 will be turboed in time for the S/CL facelift and new SL. Try 571-600hp.

On the E-Class "T-modelle":

For the Top variant is 680 HP of strong 6,8-Liter-V10 in the discussion. Who dear Sprit saves, for that has the choice between clean Bluetec Diesel with nitrogen oxide catalyst and a mild hybrid with asynchronous operation mechanism and brake suppl. IE recuperation.

Gasp!

Don't know how much of this is true/accurate, but still a very interesting read.

http://google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.autobild.de/erlkoenige/neuheiten/artikel.php?artikel_id=12901&artikel_seite=0&langp air=de|en&hl=en&ie=UTF8

M