Mercedes A-Class to enter the American market, as a sedan.

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Turbo

Turbo

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It has been confirmed that there will be a sedan variant of the Mercedes Benz A-Class, designed for the US market. In length, it will be even shorter than the compact CLA sedan, and will be the cheapest Mercedes offered (it may be even less than $30k). It will enter the market in the fall of 2018, and may be sold in China as well. As of this time, no specs for this car are known.

Design concepts:

orhqfo6ypm9l49rlilgm.png


AR-171219792.jpg


So far, I'm pretty impressed.

http://www.autonews.com/article/20171216/OEM03/171219792/mercedes-a-class-entry-sedan
 
Do we really need a car smaller than the CLA? It's darn pretty small in person and that coming from my UK perspective. I guess this will be their 1 Series Coupe equivalent (just with 4 doors) if the CLA is more like a 2 series. I really hope the magazine renders are wrong about the AMG GT inspired front though, the rest looks OK.

Genuine question, is America really that adverse to hatchbacks or is it a myth that automakers over there have basically bought in to and don't really want to push them (in the more premium segment).
 
Robin
Genuine question, is America really that adverse to hatchbacks or is it a myth that automakers over there have basically bought in to and don't really want to push them (in the more premium segment).
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Now that the Lexus CT has departed the US market, there are no premium hatchbacks currently offered in America. For obvious reasons, since few people would buy them. I would think that younger, more educated people would steer towards premium hatchbacks, but that's apparently not the case. They would see a CLA as a more sensible buy over an A-Class.
 
GTboyz
That's literally similar as CLA, why would they need another one jeez.
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I guess Mercedes Benz feels there's a market for a subcompact luxury sedan... and if it really does start at under $30k, a bunch more new customers will be brought to the brand. Mercedes says that the A-Class would be the ideal starting point for new customers.

The CLA will be going through a generational change in the next year, so there's no guarantees the two will look very alike.
 
You know, I like this. There aren't too many Mercedes-Benz I dislike. I almost want to say this A-Class is almost like Mercedes-Benz own BMW 1 series. Based on Post #1 of this thread, the grill is about perfectly styled. Based on Post #4 of this thread, the tail lights have a little Lexus DNA to them. I otherwise think this is a quite attractive car. We'll just need to see what the proper final product will look like as well as learn all the performance figures.
 
really like the looks if they can hit production near exactly like the concept.

I felt crapmed in the 2 series, success will depend on interior space.
 
Sorry...
123049khv200_2.jpg



...but from that angle of the rendering, either that grille is going to be the width of the car( that crease on the bonnet to the grille looks different in the second render) or those lights are going to be oddly stretched. Maybe like the 1-series hatch.
 
As long as they don't make it incredibly cramped like the CLA it should be a success.

Has anyone here tried to sit in the back seat of a CLA, I swear it's unusable.
 
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If that render turns out to be right, then it looks like the new CLS was the first to showcase Mercedes' new design signature.
 
mustafur
As long as they don't make it incredibly cramped like the CLA it should be a success.

Has anyone here tried to sit in the back seat of a CLA, I swear it's unusable.
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To be honest the C-class isn't much better. With the front seat in my position, I really have to squeeze, and getting out of the car is a handful. And I am only 1m87.
 
Bram Turismo
To be honest the C-class isn't much better. With the front seat in my position, I really have to squeeze, and getting out of the car is a handful. And I am only 1m87.
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Im 184cm and my head was facing the floor when I sit upright in a CLA, the car should of been a 2 door those seats are useless unless your a kid.
 
The C, E, and S-Class sedans look great. But this and the CLS don't look so great with these headlights.

I still find myself liking the rear of the current(or past) A-Class hatchback.
mercedes-benz-a250-amg-sport-package.jpg
 
Turbo
Now that the Lexus CT has departed the US market, there are no premium hatchbacks currently offered in America. For obvious reasons, since few people would buy them. I would think that younger, more educated people would steer towards premium hatchbacks, but that's apparently not the case. They would see a CLA as a more sensible buy over an A-Class.
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Late response, but I assume that most people saw the FWD, "cheap", hatchback and saw a Toyota with Lexus badges.

That's basically why I never took another glance at it personally. Maybe if I test drived or sat inside it (never even seen the interior) but honestly FWD is the reason I never cared for it or Acura even.

FWD and luxury/premium don't mentally fit since FWD is chosen for cost savings and well, Exterior, Interior and Drivetrain.

I'm having trouble explaining this... basically, IMHO if you are choosing you drivetrain for affordability, it's not really premium right?

TLDR:
The CT looked like a fancy/rebadged Corolla. There's a demo unit at a nearby dealer of a Hybrid CT with a MSRP of $47k. $47,184... for a Corolla.
 
bremics
Late response, but I assume that most people saw the FWD, "cheap", hatchback and saw a Toyota with Lexus badges.

That's basically why I never took another glance at it personally. Maybe if I test drived or sat inside it (never even seen the interior) but honestly FWD is the reason I never cared for it or Acura even.

FWD and luxury/premium don't mentally fit since FWD is chosen for cost savings and well, Exterior, Interior and Drivetrain.

I'm having trouble explaining this... basically, IMHO if you are choosing you drivetrain for affordability, it's not really premium right?

TLDR:
The CT looked like a fancy/rebadged Corolla. There's a demo unit at a nearby dealer of a Hybrid CT with a MSRP of $47k. $47,184... for a Corolla.
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Will car enthusiats ever realise that nobody apart from them cares about whether the car is RWD or FWD? 80% of 1 series drivers think their car is FWD, all non-quattro Audis are FWD, the Merc CLA is FWD.
 
North America, is just not a hatchback nation. The sedan makes more sense in that market. The drive wheels have very little to do with the consumer's choice.
 
05XR8
North America, is just not a hatchback nation. The sedan makes more sense in that market. The drive wheels have very little to do with the consumer's choice.
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Canada will have the hatchback though.
 
JC_Dude
Will car enthusiats ever realise that nobody apart from them cares about whether the car is RWD or FWD? 80% of 1 series drivers think their car is FWD, all non-quattro Audis are FWD, the Merc CLA is FWD.
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I've had a few instances where friends or family could not wrap their heads around what drive-wheels means when I tried explaining it to them.
 
That sounds strange to me frankly. The only members of my family who don't know at least that much would be the youngest ones of my generation (a few of my cousins).

Guess I'm lucky that most members of my family have had at least one project car over their live time and every single one of my grandparents/uncles/father has had a sports/muscle car before they had children and some after lol.
 

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