Heiko Schmidt, Product Manager Mercedes-Benz SLK

What was the overall concept behind the car? What were you trying to achieve within the SLK?

First, we have tried to make the standard car even more comfortable, but on the other hand make the sporty version even sportier. In doing so, the range has become much broader and we have tried to reach a new target group of customers. Secondly, with the design we didn’t want to change the overall proportions of this car, as we wanted to maintain the small dimensions unique to this car. However, we needed to enhance the car a little bit to make it more muscular in the sport version. So we concentrated on the rear fenders and the classic Mercedes-Benz sports car nose. In the end we hope to reach out to a much broader target group with this vehicle.