Vision of the CLK
Thirty years ago we were introduced to the successor to the Mercedes-Benz 190 series, the first C-class. It of course appeared as a sedan and in addition to a station wagon version, a coupe also seemed to be available later. That turned out a bit differently.
It has been thirty years since the first Mercedes-Benz C-class came onto the market. The W202 debuted in 1993, which to our initial surprise was not called a Mercedes-Benz 190 but a Mercedes-Benz C-class. The beginning of a concept and a trend, because eventually the 200/300 series would also become a ‘class’ (the E-class), just like its biggest brother S-class. However, more change was in store, as we understood exactly thirty years ago. In AutoWeek 36 of 1993 we reported on the arrival of a real C-class Combi and a coupe version.
The rumors about the ‘C Coupé’ were thorough enough to have it illustrated. In the photos above you can see how we envisioned it. Actually quite simple, namely more like a kind of two-door version of the regular C-class than as a fundamentally differently designed model. It was also a matter of guessing whether it would be a two-door, or whether Mercedes-Benz would give the coupe a tailgate with the rear window raised.
In the end, it all turned out to be a little more complicated than we imagined at the time. It took another four years before a car came close to this and that was a somewhat different story. In 1997, the CLK based on this C-class was released, a coupe that looked very different. After all, it had (broadly speaking) the front and rear of the E-class presented in 1995 and functioned as a coupe between the C and E-class. Where do we know that from again? Oh yes, from the recently presented Mercedes-Benz CLE. By the way, the CLK was not really a huge surprise: at the beginning of 1993, Mercedes-Benz had already shown the Coupé Concept in Geneva and the CLK looked exactly like it.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl