Mercedes-Benz will add a fifth model to the production line in its Tuscaloosa, Ala., plant, according to Automotive News.

The new model will be a version of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz M-Class crossover, but will sport a swooping, coupe-like roofline similar to the 2011 BMW X6 crossover.

Fighting for a top spot in the affordable sports coupe market means one thing: measuring up the BMW M3. That’s been the game for decades now, and it hasn’t changed with the latest iteration, despite the newest model’s departure from much of the past M3’s formula.

In fact, the departure has been so great, BMW itself now acknowledges that the 1-Series M Coupe is more of a spiritual successor the M3 mantle the the current M3, which has grown larger, more luxurious, more high tech, and more powerful. The raised bar might seem high indeed, but Mercedes-Benz’s AMG division feels up to the challenge with its latest coupe, the 2012 C63 AMG.

It’s not set for an official world debut until September’s 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show but the convertible version of the latest Mercedes-Benz gullwing supercar, the brand new 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster, has been revealed in full for the first time.

The car has been one of the worst kept secrets of the year, perhaps purposely so, as we’ve not only seen barely disguised prototypes but also leaked patent drawings and even a Super Bowl ad appearance. However, there are still plenty of details that we can finally confirm today.

The latest Concept A-Class from Mercedes-Benz is the clearest indication yet as to what the automaker’s next-generation A-Class will look like, and the good news is that the production version of this one is likely to hit U.S. shores.

Revealed today at the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show, and again soon at the 2011 New York Auto Show in just a few days, the Concept A-Class precedes the production version expected to go on sale in Europe towards the end of next year. Importantly, the concept’s unveiling in New York hints strongly at a possible local launch.

The latest Concept A-Class from Mercedes-Benz is the clearest indication yet as to what the automaker’s next-generation A-Class will look like, and the good news is that the production version of this one is likely to hit U.S. shores.

Revealed today ahead of its world debut at the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show later this month, and then again at the 2011 New York Auto Show just a few days later, the Concept A-Class precedes the production version expected to go on sale in Europe towards the end of next year. Importantly, the concept’s unveiling in New York hints strongly at a possible local launch.

The BMW M3 and Audi RS5 better look out as their rival from Stuttgart has just unveiled a sledgehammer of a two-door in the form of the all-new 2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe. Based on the sultry C-Class Coupe revealed for the first time last month, the latest AMG-prepped variant features not only the two-door’s distinctive design but combines it with a powerful drivetrain and dynamic handling.

Like its C63 AMG Sedan sibling, the C63 AMG Coupe misses out on the latest twin-turbocharged 5.5-liter V-8 and instead relies on the tried and tested naturally-aspirated 6.2-liter V-8 found in a variety of the Affalterbach tuner’s models including the SLS AMG supercar. Peak output comes in at 451 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque, though an optional AMG Development Package lifts output to a heady 481 horsepower.

The 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK still may be the least honed, least intense of the trio of pricey German roadsters, but it’s ripened over its 15 years and three generations. New for 2012, the latest SLK has pretty much steamrolled over any trace of its dainty past and hot-paved it with real, substantial, and sometimes intoxicating sports-car urgency.

Argue if you want in favor of the Porsche Boxster’s no-compromises chassis, or the BMW Z4’s now-outed closet speed freak. The SLK holds its own: it grips and grunts with its own visceral pulse–and hot-lapping the volcanoes and valleys of Spain’s Tenerife Island proves that it’s still a three-way arms race. And still a very small, very exclusive club.

With a new model comes an evolved look heavily influenced by the SLS AMG gullwing and the CLS four-door. A compact roadster like the SLK doesn’t have as much room to let those styling themes play out in a purely elegant way, but there is a solidity and clarity to the new look that rises above the convertibles that came before it. From the front quarters, it’s a more mature look than the under-detailed, first-gen car, and a welcome step back from the overstyled second-generation roadster. The new front end sits taller, though: look at the SLK from the side and you can read the brutalist effect of new pedestrian-safety ergs in its blunt grille and squared-off headlamps. The roof blisters over the body’s wedge in a bare little bubble, same as ever, and tapers off into teardrop taillamps that create the most cohesive view–the one from behind. It’s best when the roof is tucked in and the metallic twin peaks of the seat backs stand up at attention.

This week’s 2011 Geneva motor show turned the Swiss town’s Palexpo hall into a virtual exotic-car warehouse, stuffed with Aventadors and Ferrari FFs and the usual microbrew blend of Rinspeeds, Gumperts and Paganis. At the Mercedes-Benz stand, rubbing elbows with its frenemies next door at BMW, things were a little more prosaic, with one of the centerpieces being the latest iteration of the C-Class.

Practical, yes, but absolutely more vital in the grander scheme, since the C-Class is one of Mercedes‘ global sales pillars. This year’s C-Class will eventually count C-Class Coupes and AMG editions in its wide, deep portfolio–not to mention wagons and diesel editions not in the master plan for the American market. But coming first, in August of this year, are the stock-and-trade sedans that make perfect sense out of the return of the four-cylinder engine to the C-Class lineup for the first time in nearly a decade.

For 2012 the Mercedes-Benz C-Class is going to get a partial redesign and a sleek new Coupe body style—and, for the first time in years, a four-cylinder engine.

Beginning with the refreshed model that arrives mid-year, M-B is no longer shying away from fours: A new C250, with a 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, is the new base model for the U.S., and with M-B anticipating nearly half to be sold with the four, it’s the new volume model as well.

M-B expects sales for the new coupe and sedan combined to be incrementally higher than the current sedan.

It’s certainly not the first time Mercedes has offered a four-cylinder in the C-Class. In the 1990s, the automaker offered a four-cylinder C220 in the U.S., then later, this past decade, a supercharged C230 Kompressor.

Two-doors are in vogue again, it seems, with every almost every major luxury manufacturer showing off a new coupe in recent months. Mercedes-Benz joins the rolls today with the 2012 C-Class Coupe ahead of its Geneva Motor Show debut.

Replacing the last-gen CLC Coupe, the new C-Class Coupe rides on the same core underpinnings as the C-Class sedan, but with a fastback profile and a new C250 201-horsepower four-cylinder. The 302-horsepower C350 V-6 is also available–and both will be in U.S. showrooms by September.