Unlike The BMW Z4, The Mercedes-Benz SLC Could Be Living On Borrowed Time

BMW saw what Porsche did with its roadster, but will Mercedes do the same?

As we recently reported, the all-new BMW Z4 partly owes its existence to the Porsche 718 Boxster. It is the latter that has proven there is still indeed a market for roadsters, albeit a small one. Porsche discovered the winning roadster formula and BMW took notice. Unfortunately, the Mercedes-Benz SLC, updated for 2019, doesn’t seem to share the Z4’s good fortune. According to Autocar, the SLC roadster faces an uncertain future due to low segment demand, but this does not mean (at least not yet) a replacement has been ruled out entirely.

“These specialty cars have lost their share in our total portfolio,” said soon to retire Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche. “For a particularly long time, China has led growth, and China shows little interest in cars such as these.”

Fortunately, Mercedes-Benz is still open to the roadster segment, but the conditions need to be right. “Our portfolio is not something defined for eternity. We revisit constantly, and that’s what we’re doing. Any decisions we will communicate in the future,” Zetsche added. The SLC, which until 2016 was called the SLK, originally launched back in 1996. Unlike the BMW Z3 roadster at the time, the SLK featured a folding hardtop, perhaps one of its most signature traits. Unfortunately for the SLK/SLC, the folding hardtop has fallen out of style and its added weight is not something engineers particularly like.

What Porsche and BMW have done for their respective latest roadsters is to keep things simple with a conventional folding soft top. Combined with a dynamic chassis and proper suspension tuning, both the 718 Boxster and Z4 (test drives will get underway soon) offer/promise a thrilling driving experience. Both roadsters are equally comfortable handling the daily commute or a weekend track day event.

Zetsche’s recently named successor, Ola Kallenius, who currently serves as Mercedes development boss, offered a broader outlook regarding the automaker’s thinking: “We’ve had 20-plus years of uninterrupted broadening of the portfolio,” he said. “In 2022, we’ll have 40-plus models. Even if we love every child - and we do - we’ll be rational. We will not hesitate to slim down if we look at the economics. We will look at the next 10 years and cater to where the market is going.”

For now, the Mercedes-Benz SLC is still around but it’ll require some re-thinking in tune with what Porsche and BMW have done in order to keep it alive.

Are Kia Stinger Sales Living Up To The Hype? Here Are The Numbers

As always, numbers don't lie.

Almost two years ago at the Detroit Auto Show we proclaimed that the then all-new Kia Stinger was the undisputed star of the show. It upstaged literally everything the Detroit automakers brought that year, which admittedly wasn’t particularly exciting. But who would have ever thought that Kia was capable and willing to produce something like the Stinger and Stinger GT fastback sedans? Needless to say, there was a lot of hype surrounding the new car.

Now that we have several months of sales numbers, we figured it was a good time to check to see whether the Stinger has taken a bite, so to speak, out of the competition. Speaking of which, what is the competition? There are several choices, but we went big, meaning the premium luxury brands.

Specifically, we compared Kia Stinger sales results to those of the following: BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe, Audi A4/S4 and A5/S5 Sportback, Jaguar XE, and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. It should be noted that neither Audi nor Mercedes-Benz provided specific sales breakdowns for the aforementioned models. Instead, they were clumped together with the entire A5 and C-Class range, respectively.

For example, we don’t have a precise sales breakdown for what we see as the Stinger’s most direct C-Class variant rival, the AMG C43. So far this year, specifically through July (via carsalesbase.com), a total of 10,144 Kia Stingers have been sold in the US. To compare, BMW sold a total of 18,331 4 Series Gran Coupes in that same period. Audi sold 21,575 A4s and S4s, 15,973 A5s and S5s, while Jaguar sold 2,663 XEs, and Mercedes shifted 33,500 C-Class models.

Unfortunately, because a direct Stinger vs say, Audi S5 Sportback sales comparison isn’t available, it’s hard to get a fully accurate picture of how – or if – the Kia has been the segment disruptor some tipped it to become. However, based on the fact over 10,000 Stingers have been sold so far this year (its first full model year) and less than 3,000 Jaguar XEs have left dealership lots, is already a very good sign. It would also be unfair to compare the Kia Stinger to, for example, the Honda Accord, which has sold, on average, over 20,000 units a month so far this year.

The two sedans cater to different types of buyers. But considering the Stinger and Stinger GT are performance-focused, have an unusual fastback body style, and, above all, wear a Kia badge, the Korean carmaker has a lot to be proud of. It wasn’t too long ago Kia was seen as purely a bargain brand for non-car lovers. Kiss those days goodbye.

We also reached out to James Bell, Kia America's Director of Corporate Communications, regarding Stinger sales and were told that "Expectations are high and we are doing a great job of collecting all-new customers for the Kia brand, especially off BMW, Audi, Lexus, and trade-ins. As you know, the sedan market is not nearly as hot as the CUV/SUV (market) but the Stinger is providing the 'vehicle of change' for the brand just as intended."

Last November, Kia told us it had received around 50,000 queries for the Stinger, and by February that figured increased to 100,000. Unfortunately, we don't have any way of knowing precisely how many of those queries resulted in sales. Nevertheless, the Kia Stinger is more than holding its own in the market and remains the go-to choice for those seeking a true sports sedan you can get for around $50,000 all-in.