Mercedes Benz Unveils 1997 Models with Little Price Increase

10/17/96

Mercedes Benz is having a banner sales year in North America with sales up 16% and year-to-date units moved totalling 66,000 and expected to reach 80,000 by years end. The big news from Mercedes is the building of a series of Mercedes service centers in key U.S. markets, starting with Las Vegas. According to MB, their dealers welcome these centers, which will be manned by factory trained technicians, as they will cut down on waiting lines at dealerships and make for happier customers.

MB will offer 16 models for 1997, including 3 in C Class, 5 E Class, 5 S Class, and 3 SLs. There will be no C220, and this is the last year for the C36; there will be a 300 Diesel.

Some new features for 1997 are door mounted airbags, dimming drivers side rear view mirror, integrated garage door opener, front passenger seat occupant detector sensor for airbag deployment, 2 gears in reverse (some models), and five-speed automatic transmission. Plus rain sensor wipers and parktronic sonar for parking. The SL sports cars will get a panorama glass top, offering much more visibility than before.

Coming in 1998 will be the much heralded SLK roadster/sports car with 125 hp supercharged engine and retractible hardtop. It's priced like the Porsche Boxster at $40,000. Also down the road is the MB CLK Coupe and the "M" Class sport ute, which will compete with the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ford Explorer. It will be a totally new design and will sell in the $30,000 range.

Bill Maloney -- The Auto Channel