Six-year wait for all-paw GLK

There won't be a four-wheel drive variant of the Mercedes-Benz GLK compact SUV until the next generation -- due some time around 2015. The current GLK was built off the previous generation (W203) C-Class 4Matic platform and the specifics of that platform don't lend themselves to a right-hand drive application, thanks to the location of front-drive underpinnings.

"The floor upon which that car is built is the previous model C-Class 4Matic," says Peter Fadeyev, Manager, Corporate Communications at Mercedes-Benz Australia.

"4Matic's our four-wheel drive system and 4Matic for C-Class in the last generation was only ever made in left-hand drive. That explains why we can't have a right-hand drive [model]. You'd have to make a whole new floor and mechanical/structural platform for that car to give it a right-hand driveability -- and if you were going to do that, you may as well wait for a whole new model. So it stands to reason that they would wait until its replacement time."

That replacement time is quite some way off -- and depending on what the future holds, may never happen.

"Because of the SUV boom... GLK represents a particularly good opportunity to grow our business here," says Fadeyev, but if fuel prices soar or there's a social swing away from traditional SUVs for safety or other reasons in the meantime, the business case for the all-wheel drive GLK in Australia may evaporate.

According to Fadeyev, the next-gen GLK could be six years away. It's unlikely to be less than that.

"If you look at C-Class, as an indication," says Fadeyev, "C-Class was a seven-year lifecycle. I would give that car [GLK] an estimation of at least seven years as a lifecycle. I'd say it's about six years away. You can say that with confidence."

Asked whether, given the cost concerns militating against RHD/4WD variants of the GLK, the factory's promise to address this issue in the next generation is a reflection of the local arm's hard lobbying, Fadeyev believes that it was a joint effort from around the world.

"Not simply because of [local MD Horst von Sanden] Horst's single voice, but because of the collective voice of what exists in our company -- called the right-hand drive forum, the major right-hand drive markets obviously being Britain, Asia, South Africa, Australia. Collectively, we do form a significant proportion of production for the company, on an ongoing basis.

"So they're naturally keen to satisfy our needs. In essence, we would love to see a right-hand drive version of every model that is made, but that isn't always possible -- and the GLK is one such example."

In the interim, Mercedes-Benz Australia remains committed the rear-drive GLK for next year.

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