C stands for Coupe; Mercedes-Benz embarks on a mission to convince American car buyers that `hatchback' and `cheap' are not synonymous.

Burkhard Osthaus. Nice German name, isn't it? It belongs to an earnest man, early 30s, creased and manicured, son of a banker, born in the north of Germany and raised near Stuttgart, now general manager of passenger car development for Mercedes-Benz in North America. Burkhard Osthaus makes a polite, personable dinner companion, but when the conversation veers in certain directions you see hints of obsession, or maybe phobia, around the edges of his eyes.

``We could not continue business as usual,'' says Osthaus, speaking on his company's behalf, ``or we might become Rolls-Royce in America.''

Rolls-Royce in this context means a car company ghettoized at the tiptop of the automobile market-a novelty, almost moribund, dependent on the whims of the effete and elite. Mercedes-Benz does not want to become Rolls-Royce, or worse, Buick, where the customer pool shrinks each year, thanks to nothing except the inevitability of death. ``It is about dynamism, moving ahead,'' says Osthaus. ``It is about growth, and in the extreme, survival.''

Our hunch says Burkhard Osthaus is not a fan of so-called reality television. ``Survival'' comes up in a conversation loosely focused on the 2002 C230 Kompressor Sport Coupe. Osthaus smiles broadly at the name.

There's nothing really new in Mercedes-Benz's next American release, if you break it into pieces. We've seen the platform and basic chassis configuration under the SLK, the CLK and the new C-Class sedan. We've seen the 2.3-liter supercharged inline four in the SLK and the C, and we've seen the six-speed manual trans in the SLK. Yet by its sum, the C230 Sport Coupe is the most vital, momentous Mercedes in the United States since the M-Class, or maybe the original 190. It is, in the extreme, survival.

Survival has two passenger doors and a rear hatch. It looks slick, with giant rims, a glass roof and driving dynamics that are unmistakably Mer-cedes-Benz. Osthaus and his buds use this phrase: ``Compact dynamism without compact compromises.''

Oh yeah. We forgot to mention that this is a $26,000 Mercedes-Benz, if the folks at MBNA in Montvale, New Jersey, stick to their guns. The strategy isn't terribly complicated. Attract new, younger buyers with a high-value price leader, spread the customer base and ensure the future by propagating lots of little S-Class and SL buyers along the way.