First Official Photos of the Vision GLK Freeside Concept!

Well, there it is:the Vision GLK Freeside Concept!Marvellous job done by Mercedes-Benz, the car looks very cool dressed up in this boxy, eye-catching design.
I shall let you admire paciently the photos and then read an article taken from Autoweek.com:

"Mercedes-Benz will take the wraps off a new compact sport/utility model at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The little ute we'll see in Detroit will be a concept called the Vision GLK Freeside. The production version bows at the Beijing show in April.

"All the compact SUVs look exactly the same," said Mercedes-Benz boss Dieter Zetsche, "and we wanted to be different." Mercedes definitely accomplished that. The GLK, codenamed X204, doesn't look like any other compact ute on the market; the edgy vehicle looks like a miniaturized Mercedes GL. At 180 inches long, the GLK is nearly two feet shorter than a GL.

The GLK rides on the new C-Class wagon platform, a car we won't get here. The GLK also uses the C-Class 4Matic all-wheel-drive system, splitting torque 40/60.

The car launches here in January 2009 and is set to compete with the BMW X3 and the Audi Q5. Two gasoline V6s (with 228 and 268 hp) will be available. Four- and six-cylinder diesels will be available in Europe; U.S. buyers will be offered a 224-hp CDI Bluetec. We also can hope for the mighty GLK63 AMG--likely to get a detuned AMG 6.2-liter V8 with the same 450 hp as the C63 AMG. Watch for that at the 2009 Detroit show.

The near-production Vision's five-seat interior looks funky, with white leather seats and black wood with white inlays.

This trucklet initially will be available only in left-hand-drive form, because of the driveshaft packaging. That means the GLK won't go to the United Kingdom, Australia or South Africa, at least initially. The word in Stuttgart is that a fix is on the way but probably not until 2010. Expect U.S. pricing to start at about $38,000."

Via Autoweek.com!