'Hurry up. The Milk Tray is melting.'
Mercedes has got the set square out again to bring us the new CLC, the cheapest way to say you own a coupé with a three-pointed star on its nose.
As with the new SL and C-Class the car is more angular than its predecessor and apparently must only be driven when wearing black.
The previous Sports Coupé sold well in the UK, tempting many buyers into a Merc for the first time, and the German firm hopes the new model will do the same.
Mercedes claims to have newly developed or enhanced over 1100 components to create the new car, which includes a new direct-steer system for more agile cornering.
The car is said to ‘embody the contemporary Mercedes design idiom’, taking influence from the S-Class, CL-Class Coupé and the C-Class.
At the back there are the now compulsory LEDs, in this instance forming a row which make up the third brake light.
18” alloys are standard and Mercedes offers four four-cylinder and two six-cylinder engines with power outputs ranging from 122bhp to 272bhp.
The 184 hp powerplant in the CLC 200 KOMPRESSOR now develops an extra 20 hp while now returning 36.2 mpg – the equivalent of up to 2.8 mpg more than before. The CLC 200 CDI returns a consumption of 48.7 mpg which is improved by 2.4 mpg over the outgoing model.
Inside the engineers have developed new ‘infotainment’ systems.
Three units are available, offering a superb combination of colour display, twin tuner, speed-sensitive volume control and Bluetooth mobile phone interface.
The old Sports Coupé sold some 320,000 around the world since 2001, 45,255 of which were in the UK.
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