Harder At The Top

The new Mercedes - AMG SLC 43 is the ‘Kurz’ reincarnate with two less cylinders and is more starry-eyed than before. With convertibles finally finding their space in India, does it have what it takes to pack a good top-down fight at the sharper end?

- Jim Gorde

WHAT IF I TOLD YOU one end of a city was bringing a boxer to a knife fight? The boxer made a strong case too. Quite a knockout. Then the world almost turned upside down and the heavyweights began watching their diet; and their footprints. What resulted was a trimming down of internals and a control so strict that heart transplants were the only solution.

Yes, the world has not lost its affection for sports cars. However, the others — the polar bears, the depleting number of tigers, and all kinds of offspring who breathe in the air with added NOx and COx from the use of such cars that have abnormally large engines for pleasure — have found it increasingly difficult to cope with the change. As such, most sports cars are not just getting smaller hearts with lesser valves, they’re even shrinking themselves.

Having a compact roadster with a convertible roof, a lightweight body and an engine enough for a peppy family estate seem to be a growing trend worldwide. In India, convertibles have grown more in number, undeniably so. And, now, there are more choices than ever before, especially at the more attractive end of the price spectrum; the ones which only begin to nip at the eight-figure barrier like a dog on a trampoline peeking over the picket fence.

There are now six such convertibles in India (see box), but one brand, Mercedes-Benz, now has two. The AMG SLC 43, then, is the new SLK. New face. New name. New engine. New gearbox. And a resurrected ‘43’ badge too. The SLC sure is ‘Sport’ and ‘Light’ and rather ‘Compact’ though I’m not entirely sure what they were going for. Either way, it’s an exciting new car and it looks absolutely gorgeous.