Three years of record British business are set to continue with the CLK, which appears to be opening the door to yet another market niche for us. And it comes hard on the heels of the introduction of our new SLK sportster, which is currently subject to a waiting list of two years.'

Executives at the German company's UK subsidiary think there is little hope of more than 1,100 examples of the model reaching their showrooms this year. The car will be offered at prices between £25,000 and £35,000 and will be available with 2.0 and 2.3-litre supercharged engines, plus a new V6, 3.2-litre unit.