Mercedes-Benz SLA to make it into production?
Mercedes-Benz may be revisiting the 2000 Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA Concept, a 7 year old concept that portrayed a small, compact and fun two-seater roadster.
At that time the concept was to remain a concept because Mercedes-Benz had no economical way of building the car. Something as small as that would translate into a small price tag and small profit margins, and the A-Class and B-Class small car platform could not be used because of its sandwich construction, which meant it would be too tall to make something like a roadster.
Now that Mercedes-Benz is going for a new platform that’s much more flexible for the next generation A-Class and B-Class, it opens up new possibilities for something like the Vision SLA to be build. Going down the vehicle segments in terms of size seems to make the most sense right now even for premium carmakers.
Even BMW is said to be working on a Z2 roadster based on the 1-Series chassis which would end up being a head-on competitor to this new production SLA-Class. But still, for those who want to have a bit of fun during these troubled times, are there going to be many people willing to fork out for the “German luxury premium” on the car’s price tag when you can have all the qualities that make a good roadster in the Mazda MX-5?
Look after the jump for photos of the SLA Concept from the year 2000.
PHOTO GALLERY: Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA Concept
Click thumbnails to view high resolution photo
December 11, 2008 @ 12:45 am
It’s time to go small.
December 11, 2008 @ 1:09 am
Still remember it when flipped through my 8 year old Taiwan Motor magazine.
December 11, 2008 @ 3:09 am
MG remake!!! German style…
December 11, 2008 @ 4:01 am
might be small in size, but still big in price tag
December 11, 2008 @ 8:53 am
don like merc
December 11, 2008 @ 9:14 am
er..isn’t the SLK supposed to be the baby roadster? I can’t really see how much smaller can you get from a SLK. Granted that the current SLK is quite a bit larger than the first gen, but this SLA seems to be a pointless car.
This is the part when Mercedes shot itself in the foot. The original SLK was small light and has a small 4 cyc supercharged engine, the new one bulked up considerably and pushed itself well out of the original target demographics….its a little stigmatizing to buy the smallest base engine when you have a whole range of better engines for the same car available.
If Mercedes can’t make sense to build it on 2000, it sure wont make much sense to build it now…..
Perhaps Mercedes should do a Chrysler and re-engineer its old SLK platform for this new baby roadster.
December 11, 2008 @ 10:16 am
ketot merz : p
December 11, 2008 @ 10:25 am
i tend to agree with 4G63T. they must be seeing something we don’t or can’t.
But, for all their marketing clout, they have been wrong before. Look at what happened to the SMART brand.
December 11, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
aiyo Merc, small doesnt mean cheap lah….
the economy may be bad with lots of financial crisis everywhere, but people will still buy new cars…..
December 11, 2008 @ 7:30 pm
Mclaren SLR remake
December 11, 2008 @ 7:32 pm
fancy car for city or town drive !!!!
December 11, 2008 @ 7:35 pm
borat says : this eez for little gurls
December 11, 2008 @ 11:59 pm
maybe they wanna be small like daihatsu copen?
that car in my eyes is the best kei car roadster you can get. The copen, not SLA.
December 12, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
even the mazda miata is better
December 13, 2008 @ 9:36 am
not nice laa..
tat price range.. there are many other better options.
December 13, 2008 @ 10:34 am
haha, funny lookin piece of crap,i think we can all safely agree!
December 13, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
how cheap will it be?