The four-eyes coupe celebrates its premiere in January 1997: Hate it or love it: Mercedes-Benz CLK of the 208 series – Classic – Mercedes fans
25 years ago, a new mission began for Mercedes-Benz. With the start of the CLK of the 208 series, younger people in particular should be enthusiastic about the brand with the star. In January, Mercedes presented the CLK convertible at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. That should follow a year later. The typical four-eyed face still has a polarizing effect today and divides minds.
The story of the CLK begins in March 1993. A study by Mercedes-Benz caused a sensation at the Geneva Motor Show. It shows an elegant four-seater coupe – and a new vehicle face of the brand, which is characterized by four eyes: a slim radiator grille and four individual, elliptical headlights – two large on the outside, two smaller on the inside – flanked by heavily modeled fenders, provide a topic for discussion. This also applies to the “Fastback” rear with a large, glass tailgate: Is this what a future vehicle from the brand will look like? “That was exactly the purpose: to familiarize the public with new design elements,” says Peter Pfeiffer, who at the time played a key role in the design of the coupé study alongside design boss Bruno Sacco.
“It was the company’s very first show car,” said Pfeiffer, explaining the importance of the coupé study. Since then, the brand has systematically used the opportunity of this format to present new designs. The four-eyed face went into series production for the first time in 1995 in the E-Class of the 210 series. The reaction in Geneva to the question of how well a new four-seater coupé with the Mercedes star would be received on the market was unequivocal: it will continue the way it was presented there A good number of buyers.
The big show then followed almost four years later in Detroit: The CLK – also with a four-eyed face – looks amazingly similar to the study from Geneva and IS proof of how close to series production the Mercedes-Benz design is long before the start of series production. “We don’t use it to create a crazy show car with nonsensical showmanship that causes brief astonishment and then disappears again after just a few motor shows,” says Bruno Sacco.
Results of the Mercedes-Benz product offensive at the end of the 1990s at the Geneva Motor Show in 2000: Mercedes-Benz CLK Cabriolet (C 208, front left), Mercedes-Benz SLK (R 170, middle) and Mercedes-Benz M- class (W 163, background)
Technically, the CLK is based on the C-Class sedan in many respects. In particular, their floor assembly and aggregates are used. However, numerous deviating detailed solutions and not least the fundamentally new body design document the independence of the series. There are various design and equipment lines to choose from, starting with “Sport” and “Elegance”. They all have extensive standard equipment in common, including anti-slip regulation (ASR), outside temperature display, leather steering wheel, remote boot lid opening, heat-insulating glass and a rear seat backrest that can be folded down in parts to increase the trunk volume. The range of models is wide: it ranges from the CLK 200 with a four-cylinder engine (100 kW/136 hp) through six-cylinder types to the top models CLK 430 (205 kW/279 hp) and CLK 55 AMG (255 kW/347 hp) with eight-cylinder engines.
The calculation works: The coupe of the 208 series is very well received. A total of 233,367 units are produced in the Bremen plant over a period of five years up to May 2002. That is 65 percent more vehicles than the coupés of the 124 series rolled off the assembly line over a period of nine years. The most-built model is the CLK 320 with 68,778 units. The successor is the CLK of the 209 series.
The first CLK made a significant contribution to the success of the first product offensive. Incidentally, top management with decision-makers such as Werner Niefer, Helmut Werner and Jürgen Hubbert made early considerations for this and thus the dynamism of the brand as early as the late 1980s. An impressive harbinger of the product offensive comes as early as 1990: the Mercedes-Benz 500 E (W 124). It sets a specific starting point for the brand’s image change.
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photo series | The 4-eyes coupé celebrates its premiere in January 1997: Hate It or Love It: Mercedes-Benz CLK of the 208 series
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Motorsport also played an important part in the success: “The desire to make the brand more dynamic and later to position AMG as the ‘sports symbol’ of Mercedes-Benz worked, as can be seen today,” put forward by Norbert Haug, Head of Motorsport from 1990 to 2013, looking back at this time. “One of our maxims was not to start in racing series where you can lose without attracting attention, because that’s where you can win without attracting attention. Those interested in sport soon noticed: Mercedes-Benz dared to do something.” This turned into a success story for the company. “The image of excellent reliability, quality and safety was there. Now the sportiness was added, which led to extremely positive reactions outside and inside, including the corresponding sales figures.”
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