A-Class 2018 Mercedes-Benz A-Class spy shots and rumors

[Rainer271]

Addition to post [HASHTAG]#16[/HASHTAG]:

Mercedes reportedly considering an Audi TT competitor
According to a recent report, Mercedes could offer an Audi TT competitor.

Details are limited but Autobild is reporting the company could be considering a sporty coupe based on the next-generation A-Class. Little is known about model but it would reportedly be powered by four-cylinder engines.

If everything pans out, the model could go into production in 2019 and eventually be joined by a roadster variant that will square off with the Audi TT convertible.

Source: Autobild

 

[Giannis]

I thought the SLK is supposed to be the TT's competitor!

 

[Rainer271]

I thought the SLK is supposed to be the TT's competitor!

This is what I thought too.

 

[Merc1]

I guess they're going to move the SLK towards real sports car status, i.e. a true Boxster competitor. That is if any of this is true. The TT is just a repackaged FWD Golf so why not, it would make the Mercedes cheaper in sell better IMO. The SLK would be free to seriously challenge the Boxster with a mini GT look and feel.

M

 

[Rainer271]

2019 Mercedes A-Class Coupe rendering shows future Audi TT competitor

In the year 2011, mr. Benz started making compact cars using a new FWD platform, and he saw that it was good. Eight years later, a coupe arrived!

That's right, Mercedes-Benz is going to make a compact coupe that will rival the Audi TT in 2019, and this is what it could look like. Theophilus Chin created these renderings of what he calls the A-Class Coupe by combining several other concepts, including the GLC Coupe.

We like the outcome. No, we love the result, especially since it's so much more distinctive than the Audi TT.

The B-Class was the first car built on the MFA platform, followed by the GLA, CLA coupe and Shooting Brake and A-Class. Plans for the future of the compact range also include a GLB model, which we detailed earlier today.

Why does Mercedes want to build a small coupe with two doors when four-door versions are so popular? Probably because the Audi TT has sold about 600,000 units in a relatively short amount of time.

This baby coupe probably isn't going to be designated the "A-Class Coupe". Instead, they could call it the SLA, making it a part of the sportscar range (SLC, SL).

We can never forget that the Concept A-Class was presented in Shanghai as a 3-door, a bit like the Scirocco. But while the VW coupe is sexy and has a big boot, a sleeker design is needed to attract lifestyle customers. The rumored 400 horsepower 2-liter turbo engine should also suit a competition with the TT RS.

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/2019-mercedes-a-class-coupe-rendering-shows-future-audi-tt-competitor-95487.html

 

[Wolfgang]

Anyone notice the Concept A featured pretty prominently in this recently published picture? Perhaps another hint an A-Class Coupe may be considered for production?

The sporty basic form is retained in the new A-Class from 2018. But the model range is growing. A new four-door sedan (2018) and a three-door with coupe character (2019) may join the lineup. Mercedes is the first German premium manufacturer with an entirely new product strategy without facelift, but with shorter runtimes.

 

[SKY]

Georg Kacher recently told the three germans were putting on hold the niche strategy. With the CLA, I see no place for the A Sedan.

But that A-Coupe would be lovely.

 

[W201]

Georg Kacher recently told the three germans were putting on hold the niche strategy. With the CLA, I see no place for the A Sedan.

But that A-Coupe would be lovely.

Now that they've spent 3 billions on buying HERE, it is not a surprise they will ease out on niche strategies.

 

[Wolfgang]

The latest update from Thomas Weber talking with CarAdvice.

Mercedes-Benz moots up to eight next-generation compact models

Mercedes-Benz has made a quantum shift over the past four years by rolling out five compact cars based on the same ‘MFA’ architecture — but the company says there’s scope for even more iterations next time around.

Comprising the A-Class hatch, B-Class MPV (which premiered the MFA platform in 2011), GLA crossover SUV, CLA and CLA Shooting Brake wagon, the front- and all-wheel-drive MFA family has succeeded in lowering the price of entry into the Benz brand, and as such has yielded a conquest rate of up to 80 per cent.

These are new buyers that once bought non-premium cars from more mainstream brands, who Mercedes-Benz can eventually upsell into a C-Class, E-Class, GLC… you name it.

So successful has this downward shift been, the company is now contemplating whether it could expand its family of MFA cars to seven or eight derivatives come next-generation.

Indeed, it’s supply and logistics holding the company back, not demand, desire or ambition, according to a man who would know — Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, who spoke to Australian media at the GLC’s global launch last week.

Weber broached the topic by wondering aloud if a second small SUV derivative alongside the GLA could work.

“If there is room for more in this segment in the future, why not?” Weber asked. “Not in this lifecycle, [maybe] in the next generation.

“We can demonstrate with our current platform a huge variety of five completely different vehicles, and it’s clear from an engineering point of view that we could do more — seven, eight, why not?

“It’s more capacity and how fast can we roll out, and doing more than five in the first lifecycle is nearly impossible… that’s a huge growth rate in the segment.”

The company sold more than 500,000 compacts in 2014, produced in Germany, Hungary, Finland (where it just added capacity) and soon Mexico depending on the car. Daimler also leverages scale by supplying the MFA platform to global partner Renault/Nissan, which is set to use it on the Infiniti Q30 and QX30.

The only thing to do is speculate — if Daimler was to expand its family of MFA cars from the next-generation, starting around 2018, what might it produce? The mooted second small SUV? A ‘conventional’ sedan version of the CLA, a la the Audi A3 sedan? A sub-SLK/SLC baby convertible and coupe? Could be all, could be none. But it’s interesting to speculate.

Tell us your guesses below.

 

[tristatez28lt1]

new AMuS render
More mature design and longer wheelbase.
Possible convertible variant and A class sedan specifically for the chinese market with more room than CLA.

2018 A class sedan

2018 A class

2018 A class convertible

2018 A class GT (cheap SLK replacement)

 

[Fido]

Georg Kacher recently told the three germans were putting on hold the niche strategy. With the CLA, I see no place for the A Sedan.

But that A-Coupe would be lovely.

new AMuS render
More mature design and longer wheelbase.
Possible convertible variant and A class sedan specifically for the chinese market with more room than CLA.

Audi has A3 Sedan and BMW is preparing one 1-Series Sedan. I understand that Mercedes wants one A-Class Sedan. If the competitors has one compact sedan, Mercedes will have too. It's right that with CLA, there isn't place from A-Class Sedan, but I think they can place as one traditional sedan and CLA as that is actually, sedan coupe.

And for Europe too, not only for China and supposing that Mercedes decides to laucnh A-Class Sedan, I think Mercedes wouldn't offer there with large wheelbase.

A-Coupe understood as 3-doors or one SLA Coupe and SLA Roadster?

 

[tristatez28lt1]

 

[Centurion]

That's with the squint lights on both the A-Class and A3 renders by AutoBild.

 

[klier]

AB's render looks a bit like a Scirocco. Not bad actually.

 

[Fido]

One bad night between Scirocco and Q30...

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

With a bit of Renault thrown in for good measure!

It's not going to look like that.

 

[tristatez28lt1]

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

When will we see mules of the next A? I'm sure its going to be a much more 'mature' product than the current offering, but of course with more youth appeal than the A3 thrown in for good measure. MB isn't going to squander all the brand cachet they've built amongst the younger clientele with the current MFA platform offerings.

 

[Fido]

When will we see mules of the next A? I'm sure its going to be a much more 'mature' product than the current offering, but of course with more youth appeal than the A3 thrown in for good measure. MB isn't going to squander all the brand cachet they've built amongst the younger clientele with the current MFA platform offerings.

We should to start to see some mules this summer, but I think we won't see them; we will see directly the prototype very disguised. MFA 2 platform won't have importants changes with the current MFA compared as we saw with the last generation from A-Class and the mules with based in Caliber.

 

[Rainer271]

Source: AMuS