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Mercedes-Benz took the easy route when it comes to making its current CLC, using the previous C-Class coupe as a starting point instead of engineering a new entry-level model from the latest C-Class platform. That may be about to change, as CAR is reporting that MB will introduce a proper C-Class coupe to replace the CLC. The new model will ditch the cut-off hind-end of the current car, which isn’t quite as pretty as its competition from Audi and BMW. A soft-top convertible is expected to follow a few months after the new 2010 C-Class coupe is introduced.

Moving up the Mercedes line, a new E-Class coupe is also in the works to offer a direct competitor to the Audi A5. We wonder if a “shooting brake” style hatchback could be offered as well. In any case, the two-door will lose its CLK nomenclature in favor of being known simply as a coupe. Also dead is the CL moniker, which will be replaced with an S-Class coupe. In addition to the expected gasoline and diesel-powered models, hybrids are expected to be offered across the entire Mercedes-Benz range in an effort to lower fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

The new 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLC is the Stuttgart-based automaker’s second recent attempt at making a hatchback version of the C-Class sedan work. The first-gen model was sold in the U.S. in small numbers, but we’re not expecting the newly renamed CLC to make it across the pond for Yankee consumption. We’re not sure U.S. consumers would take the bait a second time anyway. Though Mercedes claims it has 1,100 improvements, the new CLC is still based on the old C-Class architecture, and thus does not share underpinnings with the new C-Class on sale in the U.S. It basically looks like the first-gen model with the nose of the new C-Class grafted on.

But there reportedly were other designs being considered. These renderings show what the new CLC could have been, nearly all of which feature more dynamic designs than the one that eventually got the nod. Perhaps if the 2009 CLC came out of the oven wearing one of these shapes, the U.S. market would be more interested in Mercedes’ newest hatch. Of note, however, is that we have no idea where Carscoop sourced these renderings, so they may not be official ones from Mercedes at all, but they sure do look the part.

[Source: Carscoop]