The folks over at Mercedes-Benz certainly know how to create and then fill a segment the world never thought it needed. But it seems the Stuttgart automaker will draw the line at the convertible SUV.
Well, if you exclude the Maybach G650 Landaulet, that is.
Yes, Robert Lesnik, the exterior design director at the German automaker, told wheelsmag.com.au that there would be little sense in Mercedes-Benz engineering a soft-top SUV.
“What for? To sell 500 cars or whatever?” he asked.
“If it’s easy to do, then why not? You could have nothing to lose. But to do a whole car for it – for an idea that nobody really asked for – well, there’s a reason there’s only one car on the market,” Lesnik told the Australian publication, making reference to the Range Rover Evoque Convertible.
Lesnik went on to explain that the German brand would face significant structural challenges were it to attempt to transform any of its existing, five-door SUVs into rag-tops.
“It’s very easy to do a convertible out of a two-door car, because you have the structure. The Evoque, for example, there is a five-door and a three-door. So it’s easy to do; it does not cost much.
“If you have a GLC, for example, you have to change the whole structure to do a convertible, like what Nissan did with the Murano,” he added.
While Mercedes has aggressively expanded its SUV range with various coupé-like and performance derivatives, a convertible body-style seems a bridge too far.
“We should not do everything,” Lesnik said.
