It seems that I have heard this rumor of the front end re-design before. But I believe it is only for the SLK version and not the SL. The R230 will be in production for 7 years with the same body style as opposed to the R129 with production run of twelve years.

I also do not think MB will risks the "copy cat" look on the SL for the soon to be released SLR. The SLR is rumored to have a price tag of $250K. If the SL is going to look like the SLR, I would imagine the SLR buyers will want their money back and buy the SL instead.

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95 R129
04 Infiniti G35.5 BS
10 X204