Mercedes-Benz cradles new baby car range

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Mercedes-Benz cradles new baby car range
Jez Spinks
March 18, 2011


Little victory ... Mercedes-Benz wants to entice younger buyers with compact vehicles. Illustration: Automedia
New A-Class to spawn more small Mercedes-Benz models.

Mercedes-Benz will target younger buyers with an extensive new range of small cars that will include a hatchback, tall wagon, soft-roader, sedan and sports car.

The compact-model expansion begins when the next-generation A-Class debuts at September's Frankfurt motor show, before reaching Australia early next year.

The A-Class will sit on a new highly flexible platform called MFA (''Mercedes Front-wheel-drive Architecture'') that will spawn multiple body styles. Mercedes says the modular platform is so advanced, it has patented the design.

The German marque admits sales of the outgoing A-Class were cannibalised by the closely related B-Class but says the new platform will help double sales by introducing greater differentiation between the A and B.

The A-Class will abandon the tall-body, MPV-style design of the outgoing model for conventional hatchback styling more in keeping with the Volkswagen Golf.

''As you know, today the A- and B-Class are quite similar,'' says the head of group research and cars development at Mercedes-Benz, Thomas Weber. ''So we can sometimes feed off each other with similar [vehicle] concepts."

"But in the future market, we will have four completely different vehicles [based on the same platform] … that will address three completely different market segments. This is where we believe [sales] growth will be.

''We have an intelligent platform set-up that will be unveiled at Frankfurt, where it will be possible to use a high-floor concept for vehicles where we need high floors, such as the [new] B-Class. Customers like that [high floor] because they like space, flexibility and higher seating - and if we need a sporty, flat car, which we could not address with the old platform.''

A Mercedes insider confirms a baby sports car will be one of the new variants, sitting below the SLK roadster. As with the other small vehicles, the two-seater will be available as either a front-wheel-drive or an all-wheel-drive.

The all-wheel-drive version is expected to be offered only with the high-performance AMG version.

Drive's source reveals the fourth variant of the new A-Class platform will be a compact soft-roader, codenamed MLK.

The soft-roader will also be both front-drive and all-wheel-drive and will be positioned below the company's ML large 4WD, as well as the GLK mid-size soft-roader, which will finally make it to Australia in the near future, after the company confirmed the next-generation model would this time be produced in right-hand-drive.

The new MLK is expected to go on sale in Australia midway through next year. The roadster will potentially join its relatives a few months later.

Mercedes is also planning further variants, including what the insider calls a ''mini CLS'' - meaning a coupe-style four-door. A more conventional baby four-door is being considered for markets such as the US and China.

All of the baby Benz models will be front-engined, with the motors positioned in an east-west (transverse) configuration to maximise cabin space.

Rival BMW will soon roll out new three-cylinders for its 1-Series but Mercedes says only its Smart city cars will use such engines. The A-Class and its derivatives will employ four-cylinder engines from the rest of the Mercedes range and will include direct fuel injection, stop-start and turbocharging.

Mercedes says the higher-floored new B-Class will be able to accommodate alternative drivetrains, including fuel-electric hybrid, range-extender hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell technology.

My comment..FORD WHERE'S KUGA??????

[Bossxr8]

Escape/Kuga is coming next year isn't it?

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Who knows !! Ford seem to come last in model releases!!!!