A new report coming out of England finds Mercedes-Benz is open to the idea of building a topless version of the GLC Coupe (pictured) that bowed last week at the New York Auto Show.
“It would be fun, and it’s actually not that much of an engineering challenge,” said Michael Kelz, the chief engineer for the GLC, CLS, and E-Class model lines in a recent interview with British magazine Autocar.
If approved for production, the GLC Cabriolet would fight head-to-head against the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Convertible, a model that currently has the premium convertible crossover segment to itself. The Cabriolet would ride on the same basic platform as the GLC Coupe, and it would presumably borrow the four- and six-cylinder engines that power its hardtop counterpart.
The biggest obstacle standing in the way of the GLC Cabriolet isn’t public demand; Mercedes expects the convertible crossover segment will actually grow in the coming years as buyers leave traditional convertibles behind. Instead, Kelz explained the Stuttgart-based car maker doesn’t have the production capacity required to add another model to its lineup. To build the GLC Cabriolet, Mercedes would need to give one of its existing cars the ax.
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