northbenz

Well the rumors we have been hearing for months now appear true. It looks like BMW has beat Mercedes to the punch in offering a truly upscale 4 seat folding hardtop covertible with its new 3-series cabriolet (production coded E93). Will Mercedes rise to the challenge and meet or beat BMW by including a 4-Matic Option on the 4 seat CLK with a folding hardtop as has been proposed and even tested for years? In the past Mercedes gave-up on the idea because of limitations consequent from a 2 piece folding hardtop as used in the SL and SLK. However, with the existant 3 piece technology (VW EOS, Volvo C70, and now BMW) that is no longer an excuse!

Here is an attempted link to the 8/17/06 article and photos identifying the BMW to go into production in December and be available in showrooms by March of 2007:

http://www.worldcarfans.com/spyphoto...s-coupe-cabrio

benzmodz

Hardtop, softop, fliptop ..... a Benz is hardly less of a car because someone else made a solid roof with no trunk space.

northbenz

Sure, a hardtop compromises trunk room, but if anyone had learned the benefits of a folding hardtop it should have been Mercedes with the recent success of the SL and SLK models. That said, nothing wakes up the sleeping boardroom members at the Deutche Bank (the real owners of Mercedes) than to see their Bavarian rivals at BMW one up them. There are enough Mercedes buyers out there who would be ready to pass on the BMW IF Mercedes comes out with convincing evidence that they won't have to wait that long for an equal or better 4-seat folding hardtop convertible badged with the three-pointed star!

velvet fog

I'm one. If the next gen CLK doesn't have a folding hard top, I'm getting a 3 series.