SPY PHOTOS: Mercedes CLS, SL and SLK Facelifts

Mercedes CLS: CLS to mimic CL

DaimlerChrysler's successful four door coupé CLS is about to get its first restyling. Our spy-shots reveal the car's minor changes as tested in northern Scandinavia: Quite visibly the car is featuring a completely new front grille in the style of its big brother CL, and also the rear end - still under cover - gets all new taillights and a new bumper. The current CLS came on the market in August 2004, so one can expect the facelift to be scheduled for release in 2008.

Mercedes SL: Out go the round headlights

Mercedes is preparing their SL sports-roadster for the last half decade before it's going to be replaced by an all-new model in 2013. While it underwent a minor facelift last year, the modifications for this major overhaul seem to be quite radical and will include an all-new front with new bumper, air-intakes, grille and headlights - the latter reminding of those of the CLS four-door coupé. Some speculate the car snapped close to the Arctic Circle would be a test mule for the entirely new successor of today's SL - but that's is very unlikely as mules do normally not have thinly disguised tails as seen on this prototype. They're usually either heavily disguised - or not at all. Instead, we reckon the taillights and the bumper of this facelifted model will be slightly re-designed as well - and that is actually the reason for the black tape on the SL's rear end. As Mercedes has always kept engines of the SL up to date, we do not expect to change much under the bonnet. Stuttgart will continue to offer the SL 350 (V6, 272 bhp), SL 500 (V8, 388 bhp) and SL 600 (V12, 517 bhp). The 500-bhp SL 55 AMG, however, will be replaced by the more powerful SL 63 AMG returning 525 bhp. The even hotter SL 65 AMG with no less than 612 bhp will remain on offer, too.

Mercedes SLK: The f1-nose remains

Scheduled for a presentation at the Frankfurt Show later this year is the minor facelift for the Mercedes SLK, likely to feature triangle bars underneath the Formula-One nose to mimic the front end design of Mercedes' quite successful silver arrows F1 racers. It also appears that the prominent nose of the car has been toned down just a little as it's not anymore dipping down into the frame of the grille. Other new features will be slightly modified taillights and newly shaped front air-intakes. As the driver of the prototype snapped here undergoing tests in Stuttgart was very keen on covering the dashboard, we reckon that this is going to get some minor changes, too. On the other hand, we do not expect new engines and mechanics, so buyers will still have the choice between 163, 231, 272 and 360 bhp.