Recent reports indicate that Mercedes-Benz may be ready to change its naming system in the near future, with model designations that will actually spell out if the car is a coupe or a convertible. The CLK name will be the first to drop off the list, becoming the E-Class coupe or convertible in 2009. Other models will most likely follow suit, such as the CL which would be renamed as the S-Class Coupe.

With the current M-B nomenclature rather well-accepted within the car buying public as far as we know, the move towards a brand new system would seem to fly in the face of any equity the old names have built over the years. That said, the revised naming scheme isn't heading into bold new territory – a decade earlier, the old CLs were known as the S-coupe and before that, the SEC.

+ Benz Insider: Mercedes-Benz dropping the CLK and CL names