Mercedes rolls out the new A-Class

Mercedes-Benz continues their new and refreshed ‘product rush’ with the arrival of the revised A-Class which goes on sale in the UK from 17 July 2008.

Mercedes-Benz said at the international press launch in Berlin last week, the A-Class was the first ‘premium’ car in the compact segment when it was launched in 1997. The second generation A-Class was introduced in 2004 and over 1.7 million of them have been sold worldwide making it one of their best selling model ranges.

Berlin is the home to the Mercedes-Benz German sales organisation but it is the city that Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler registered their patents for the first automobile 120 years ago.

In the UK the A-Class average annual sales are 12,663 units with 56 per cent being to retail customers, 41 per cent are female owners and 45 per cent are repeat buyers. The average age of A-Class owners is 57 years.

The new A-Class range consists, as before, of three and five door hatchback models. There are no price increases over the outgoing versions despite added specification, improved safety features, better fuel economy, lower CO2 emissions, body restyling and a revised model line-up.

Classic, Sport and Turbo variants are no longer available so the revised line-up is; Classic SE which is expected to take around 51 per cent of sales, Elegance SE 20 per cent and Avantgarde SE 26 per cent. On the road prices range from £14,365 to £18,815.

Although the engine options for the A-Class is comprehensive for Europe with four petrol and three diesel units, in the UK there are four, the 1.5-litre 150 and 1.7-litre 170 petrol and 2.0-litre 160/180 CDI turbodiesel units. All are available with the option of manual or automatic transmissions.

In the UK over 70 per cent of A-Class sales are for petrol powered models and over 47 per cent of customers choose the automatic transmission option. The best selling model has traditionally been the A150, 90hp, five-door accounting 45 per cent of sales followed by the A180 CDI, 109hp, five-door with 21 per cent and the A170, 116hp, five-door with 12 per cent. Five door models account for 90 per cent of A-Class UK sales.

Additional lower emission BlueEfficiency models, three and five door manual variants with A 150/170 petrol engines and the three door manual transmission A160 CDI diesel, will be available from September production this year at no extra cost over the standard models.

BlueEfficiency specification will include Mercedes’ new ECO Stop/Start function, low rolling resistance tyres, lightweight construction and detailed aerodynamic body styling changes. The three-door A160 CDI BlueEfficiency model is said to return 62mpg with 119g/km of CO2. BlueEfficiency versions are claimed to offer a nine per cent fuel and CO2 saving over conventional new A-Class models.

Active Park Assist, which identifies a parking space big enough for the A-Class and when engaged reverses the car into the space, is also a new option priced at £550.

Top ten small cars

Increasingly the supermini is the choice of car-buyers in an age where the economical, practical, easy to park and ´green´ small car is king.

Cars that beat the Congestion Charge

With cars emitting less than 120g/km of carbon dioxide exempt from the Congestion Charge and paying less road tax, car buyers are increasingly looking to small, green cars.

Mercedes ML-Class NCAP results

The Mercedes ML-Class large SUV scored maximum points in impact test to be awarded a maximum five stars for adult occupant protection.

Mercedes-Benz S-Class is Best Luxury Car

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class has been crowned Best Luxury Car at the Auto Express New Car Honours for the third consecutive year.

New 2009 Kia Sorento goes premium class

New 2009 Kia Sorento to up SUV Crossover bar by going all Volvo XC60, Ford Kuga and Nissan Qashqai, and less orthodox 4X4. Remember though, premium Kia products, equals premium Kia prices.

Name

Comments

Validation	Please enter the text to the left (case sensitive)
Reload