Merc SLK heads sports car blitz

Mercedes-Benz is planning a major expansion of its sports car line-up over the next three years - and these spy images show that it’s preparing a new SLK to be part of the range.

The next-gen folding hard-top, due next year, will sit at the base of an expanded model line-up that will also include the ‘baby’ SLS (known as SSK, for Super Sport Kurz), a C-class coupe and a sub-C-class four-door coupe, a baby brother to the CLS.

See the Mercedes SLK spy pictures

The prices of Mercedes’ ‘sporting’ range will stretch from around £30,000 to £250,000 - although there could yet be a smaller cabrio, based on the next-gen A-class platform.

Codenamed R172, the new SLK is being brought into line with Mercedes’ future styling direction, recently introduced by new design chief Gorden Wagener.

This car’s relatively light disguise cannot hide the switch to a large, trapezoidal front grille, as seen on the recently launched SLS AMG supercar and the F800 Style Geneva motor show concept.

The rear spoiler is similar in style to that on the SLS. And the rectangular patch just behind the front wheel arch probably covers a side vent, another cue from the range-topper.

New Mercedes SLK in detail

The cars the new Merc SLK must beat

The links to the AMG gullwing supercar do not end with exterior styling, though. The interior spy shot - our first glimpse inside the cabin - reveals that the dashboard architecture, centre console and air vents closely follow the design of the SLS’s, a look that is said to have been influenced by aircraft.

The SLK will sit on a shortened version of the current C-class’s rear-wheel drive platform. But while the underpinnings are steel, the body will be a mix of steel and aluminium. Mercedes is said to have decided against a switch to all-aluminium on cost grounds.

The current car’s Vario folding roof remains, but engineers have reworked the system to speed up opening and closing, and to allow operation at low speeds.

Mercedes will also offer the new model with an optional panoramic glass centre panel in the roof; it will incorporate the ‘Magic Sky Control’ variable tint already seen on Maybachs and the CLS Shooting Break concept.

The SLK will be launched early next year, with UK sales starting in May or June. Mercedes has yet to decide whether to reveal it at the Detroit show in January or Geneva in March.

It will initially be available in two versions: SLK250 and SLK350. The 250 uses Merc’s M271 EVO engine, a turbocharged 1.8-litre, four-cylinder petrol with 201bhp.