Not Another Hatch > Mercedes CLC
Where's the trunk?No fat jokes, please.
Moreover we expect - nay - demand that anything with a luxury moniker have either a trunk (a.k.a. "boot") or the closing hatch of an SUV or wagon.
There are certain chic exceptions. The MINI surely ranks not only as new cult classic, but Cinquecento-sized car that boasts Hummer-sized caché. And on the detour that is the Fiat 500, I'm sure if Fiat, SpA could get it's collective act together and sell Stateside, there'd be plenty of American car buyers that would embrace Italy's hot little number.
That said, for some unfathomable reason Mercedes-Benz feels that it can sell a hatchback C-Class to us gullible Yanks. It's sales logic that on its face is almost as dumbfounding as the Northeast media's smug lean toward Hillary Clinton.
This time they're calling it the CLC. As if that's somehow supposed to entice buyers here that a $30K hatchback - or in truth a full two-door that looks like some drunk October-fest goer came back to the factory after hours and took a saw to the trunk.
I guess it makes a certain economic sense. According to CAR, 320,000 of those infernal predecessor "sports coupés" have found new homes worldwide since 2001.
And true to trends unfolding at auto shows this world round, there seems to be a design movement that seeks to phase out the trunk for space considerations; the protruding boot's exit is nigh.
Still, I pause to rejoice that I live in a land that -for the moment- doesn't have to settle for a less-is-somehow-more definition of luxury. Mercedes-Benz can keep the CLC on their side of the Pond. We'll take the C-Class in sedan form, thank you.
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