As goes Volkswagen and BMW, so goes Mercedes. Since VW/Audi are going to make a small roadster and BMW is toying with the idea of a Z2, Mercedes doesn’t want to be left out, and is exploring the idea of making its own roadster based on the A-Class.
Mercedes already has a few design studies to work from, and it’s looking back to the SLA concept from the Detroit Auto Show in 2000. "It is part of the regular new-model review at Mercedes-Benz to look at ideas from the past," a senior Mercedes-Benz official told AutoWeek. "When the SLA was originally proposed at the end of the last decade, we didn’t have a suitable platform; the sandwich platform is too high and too heavy. This problem will be alleviated with the arrival of the next A-class, whose new platform provides much greater scope in terms of the sort of variants it can support."
In fact, the next generation of A and B-Class cars from Mercedes are built with the possibility of multiple variations across multiple markets, including the U.S. So, if Mercedes is going to used its bubble car platform to make things like an SUV, the least they can do is give us a fun roadster as well.
The best part about all this is that when the German roadster wars are in full effect, we get to be the winners. There will be plenty of light, cheap(ish) drop top fun cars to choose from.
[ Source:Autoweek ]
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