Mercedes was hoping to co-develop new engines and platforms for the cars with BMW but the talks ended abruptly this week because officials deemed the synergies from such a partnership were too small to make the deal worthwhile. Instead, Mercedes will develop its own platforms and powertrains for the new compact models and will also focus on keeping costs low. One of its key strategies is to move production from the current Rastatt plant in Germany to a low cost site in Eastern Europe.
The cars will be built on a new FWD platform codenamed MFA (Mercedes Frontwheel Architecture), which drops the former sandwich construction for a more conventional car-like design. This means the cars will sit much lower than current models, possibly even lower than the BMW 1-series and Audi A3.
According to German sources there will likely be the regular hatch, a new mini-SUV, a sports hatch, and a possible four-door coupe model all spawned from the new MFA platform. The main reason for increasing the number of fuel-efficient compact models is to help Mercedes reduce its fleet-average carbon emissions as well as boost sales.
2011 Mercedes-Benz A-Class rendering
2011 Mercedes-Benz B-Class rendering
Reader Comments
Tue Mar 11 2008 4:02 PM
guruz says
Lower?
I doubt that will be a good thing. At least in Germany the A-Class is popular with older people that don't want to climb into a car.
Tue Mar 11 2008 9:19 PM
Sir Yappie says
If that rendering is what the car will look like then i have just found the car for my wife...very nice !
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