Emerging reports suggest that Mercedes is gearing up to preview the new CLK coupe with a shooting brake concept at the upcoming Paris Auto Salon in October. For those unfamiliar, "shooting brake" is Euro-speak for a three-door estate wagon or extended hatchback, originally coined by coachbuilders for custom motor carriages made for hunting.

Although the CLK Shooting Brake is expected to show up as a concept car, reports suggest that Mercedes could actually build it in that form as an alternative bodystyle to the more conventional coupe and convertible variants replacing the ones we have now. Otherwise styling is expected to follow along the lines laid down by the S-Class sedan, like the E-Class sedan which the CLK is made to accompany in Merc's mid-range line-up.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport]

Paris 2008 Preview: Mercedes CLK Shooting Brake concept originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If this is an accurate depiction of the 2009 Mercedes CLK, all we can say is, well, we're disappointed. Not because it's a bad looking car, because it isn't. But was it Aston Martin or VW that started this trend of creating the same car in different sizes? If it was Aston, they've only got three models (for now), and they're playing in a smaller, hand-stitched leather arena, so we'll let them go. But for the mass market folks -- where did design differentiation disappear to?

This could be a much smaller CL. Or a slightly smaller 2-door E-Class. Or a larger, 2-door C-Class. BMW appears to be doing the same thing with the 2009 7-Series, the renderings of which look like a massive and slightly bloated 3-Series. We have no doubt this will sell well, if it is indeed the new CLK, especially as it gives the coupe a much-needed sharpening. The creases do this car a far better service than they do the current S-Class. Still, we wouldn't mind a little more imagination being applied across the drawing boards.

[Source: The Hollywood Extra]

Rendered Speculation: 2009 Mercedes CLK originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.