Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOTT26
Back when the ML-Klasse was conceived it was to be known as the M-Klasse until BMW's R&D chief Wolfgang Reitzle went bat-shit crazy and stopped their deadliest rival from infringing on BMW's M cars.
Recently someone from Mercedes confided in me that had BMW not stopped Mercedes-Benz from using the M name - The GL would actually be the ML - L for longwheel base in which the both generation of GL are actually extended ML-Klasse models. The GLK was initially to use MLK - K is German for short .
Which would have given more consistency.
The recent Mercedes-Benz concept at the LAIAS is to show potential for their super-luxury SUV above the GL as Premium manufacturers resort to global market demand for super luxury SUV's as large premium sedans are declining in favour of SUVs.
The X5 now shows more understatedness with its evolutionary appearance as it will no longer be the flagship of the X line.
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This is very interesting, Scott26.
When the SLK first came out, I always thought the K stood for "Kompressor", or supercharger, as it was initially released as an SLK230 with a supercharged 4-cylinder engine. It even had "Kompressor" on the side of it, my brother got one way back when they just started coming out and hitting the streets.
They don't use supercharged engines anymore as of the 2nd generation SLK, but the K stayed in the model designation. So I guess either i was wrong all that time, or it originally did stand for Kompressor but was later changed to "Klein" or small and is now (obviously) used on other models.