AMG

We’ve been tracking the evolution of the smallest Mercedes-Benz roadster for quite some time, but now the car has finally given up on any sort of camouflage. Our photographer looming around the car park has suggested the new model is due for a launch later today, around midnight (CET) to be more precise, but that would come out of the blue as Mercedes-Benz didn’t give any clues about such a move.But who needs an official launch when we’ve got this batch of images? We get to see everything in these photos, maybe even more than Mercedes-Benz would have wanted, considering the fake exhaust tips on the SLC 180 are so obvious in some of the pictures (no surprises there, the C-Class has them as well). Not to mention there’s a heavily camouflaged car in the background that must be the new SL - even though we’ve seen it with less cover, so the complete wrap-around seems a little over the top.As for the SLC, it looks slightly better than we expected. The rear is nice and rounded, while the front received a complete makeover, with new bumper designs, new grille, and most importantly, new headlights.If the LED optical blocks seem familiar, our whole office agreed they look very much like the ones on the outgoing E-Class, after its latest facelift. There’s also a black SLC that shows us its standard headlights, in which guise the SLC appears a lot less changed from the pre-facelift SLK.We might have been too hasty saying we don’t need an official presentation of the new model, as these images do little to enlighten us on the engine options available on the SLC. The only specific model we can see is the 180, which should get the same engine as the C180 it shares its platform with - a 1.6-liter four-cylinder turbo with 156 hp.The two models at the back (the second red one and the blue one) appear to have thevisual package on, with a more aggressive front bumper, different radiator grille, and a new rear bumper with air vents. But that doesn’t necessarily say anything in particular about the engines underneath their hoods. And the biggest question mark remains the AMG model.So, yeah, despite our earlier cockiness, we’re still very curious about the full list of models for the new SLC, something we won’t find out ahead of the official launch. So let’s just hope our man with the camera was right and we’ll have all the answers available tomorrow morning.