Mercedes-Benz CLS production comes to an end
The Mercedes-Benz CLS ignited the four-door coupe market when it was first introduced back in 2004, and since then we’ve seen several other luxury rivals attempt to emulate the design with cars like the 2010 Porsche Panamera, and recently revealed 2010 Aston Martin Rapide and Audi A7.
Now, after almost seven years of sales, production of the first-generation CLS has come to end at the automaker’s plant in Sindelfingen, Germany. Over its lifetime more than 170,000 of the cars have been built.
Previewed for the first time at the 2003 Frankfurt Auto Show by the Vision CLS concept car, the production CLS didn’t make its world debut until the 2004 New York Auto Show and didn’t go on sale in the U.S. until 2005. The car is based on the previous generation E-Class but it stretches an additional 6 inches and has a much shorter profile.
The very last of the first generation CLS models to be built was a black CLS550 destined for a customer in the U.S. It was ordered with an AMG styling kit, leather trim and bi-xenon headlights. A successor, the 2011 Mercedes-Benz CLS, is set to make its world debut at this September’s 2010 Paris Auto Show and should arrive in local showrooms early next year.
[Mercedes-Benz]
