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Happy Birthday! SLK turns 10

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303 views Sep 15, 2006

Happy Birthday! SLK turns 10

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It was exactly ten years ago that the Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class made its debut in the showrooms. When it was launched in 1996, the SLK was a new market segment for Mercedes, but they managed to make it a success. Though Mercedes didn't invent the folding hardtop, the SLK was the car that revived it among modern cars.

More than 311,000 units of the first-generation SLK-Class were produced between autumn 1996 and March 2004. To date, Mercedes-Benz has produced 148,000 units of the current SLK-Class and has the biggest market share in this segment with 34%.

Over that time, the SLK has grown from what was considered to be a hairdresser’s car to the current model that can compete with some of the best handling cars on the market. The SLK55 is one of our favourites, and with rumors that Mercedes is planning to slot their prized 6.2L V8 under the hood will only make it better.