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These are the very first spy pictures of the forthcoming Mercedes C-Class coupe, returning to the R&D centre after doing some hot-weather testing in Germany. The C-Class coupe will replace the aging CLC in Mercedes range in 2011. The CLC will be axed once the C-Class coupe goes on sale.

Mercedes approved the C-Class coupe in March while outlining their plans to increase production at the Bremen plant, which will assemble the C-Class saloon, estate, coupe and GLK SUV from 2011.

The C-Class coupe will be the second 2dr based on the current C-Class, but the first to take the ‘C-Class coupe’ name into production. The coupe has been envisaged to replace the CLK, which was discontinued earlier this year after 12 years in production and two model generations. Unlike the E-Class coupe, however, the C-Class version will not be modified and offered in cabriolet guise.

“We did look at an open-top version but in the end the costs were too high given the short model life,” said an insider.

The forthcoming coupe will avoid a sole body-shell and distinct styling that made the CLK a success for a rather upright look that borrows heavily on the profile and detailing of the C-Class sedan.

“We went back and studied what made our coupes so popular in the past. If you look at some of the more successful two-door models Mercedes-Benz has produced, you can see a direct relationship between them and their four-door stablemates,” a source said.

Unlike its sedan & wagon siblings, the coupe will be short-lived. With development of the fourth-generation C-Class already in progress at Mercedes’ R&D centre by Stuttgart, the coupe will be intended to be sold for four years. It will then be replaced with a much more rounded and practical model that will likely draw lines of the CLS and possess a four-door layout.

The newcomer will go on sale in the UK in Spring 2011, alongside the revised C-Class saloon and wagon.