The CLK is Dead, Long Live the New Coupe

The car has yet to be named and produced, but the plan that the CLK will be silently put to sleep is still there. It's a bloody mystery in fact, but it's just one of those things you have to take for granted: while the rest of the world is bashing it's brains against an invisible wall to make cars smaller and more fuel efficient, Mercedes is doing the exact opposite.

The CLK series of coupes will get the axe after the 2010 model in an effort by Mercedes to move towards larger, more luxurious coupes. The new car will be based on the new E class and it will come in two shapes, that of a coupe and a convertible.

The new car will be unveiled once the E-class sedan will hit the market, somewhere around the summer of 2009, the coupe version that is, because the convertible will have to wait a year longer, or better said, we're gonna have to wait for it to come out.

This move comes as a counter measure for the competition who has already taken the large coupe class for a test drive. Eloquent examples are the Audi A5 and the Porsche Panamera with the latter coming out later next year. But the A5 is already tearing up the market, all the more reason for Mercedes to light a fire under its new project.

The inspiration for the new, unnamed car, will be the Fascination Concept that could be seen in Mercedes' stand at last months Paris Auto Show. That's so you can get an idea what you will be saving your money for. And speaking of money, the new car is said to cost more than a CLK, since it will slot in between the C class and the E class of the Mercedes line-up.