Mercedes-Benz has opened order books for its SLC convertible, the replacement for the SLK.
First seen at the Detroit Motor Show in January and launching 20 years after the first SLK appeared, the SLC will cost from £30,495, this buying the entry-level 200 Sport variant.
Effectively the car is a wide-ranging facelift of the SLK, with visual changes including a significantly reworked front section with a steeply-raked radiator grille to emphasise the arrow-shape bonnet and the latest diamond-shape grille.
The front bumper has bold air intakes with chrome trim, LED daytime running lights are incorporated into the headlamps while most notable at the rear are narrower, LED tail lamps.
The folding ?vario-roof? hard-top has also been improved ? it is now simpler to operate and can be activated at speeds of up to 25mph. Inside Mercedes has sought to improve the quality of the cabin, with light aluminium carbon trim as standard, dark as an option, a redesigned instrument cluster and a multifunction, colour TFT display between the dials with a screen diagonal of 4.5 inches. The centre console display has grown from 5.8 to seven inches.
The SLC 200 is powered by a 2-litre engine of 181bhp with a six-speed manual gearbox, while the 9G-Tronic automatic transmission is available as an option.
The 9G-Tronic comes as standard on an uprated version of the 2-litre unit in the SLC 300, offering 241bhp, while there is also a diesel, the SLC 250d with a 2.1-litre unit of 201bhp and CO2 emissio...