From a failed moose test to a successful model: the A-Class from Mercedes-Benz can look back on around 25 years of ups and downs. The German car manufacturer developed a vehicle model that, unlike the other Mercedes-Benz vehicles of the time, was not built according to the existing modular system, but with new constructions. This was mainly due to the dimensions and the installation position of the engines. For example, Mercedes-Benz launched “a completely new generation of four-cylinder engines with a light-alloy block” – two petrol and two diesel models. According to the company, the A-Class was more than 25 percent lighter than other four-cylinder engines in the displacement class. She declared war on the competition in the compact class.
However, the A-Class that tipped over during the moose test did not initially cast a positive light on the entry-level model. Mercedes-Benz even stopped production at one point and installed the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) as standard in its vehicle models. Then things went uphill. After the German car manufacturer reported more than 500,000 vehicles sold since the start of production in 2001, according to Mercedes-Benz it was again 500,000 vehicles of the second generation produced in 2008. This made it one of the bestsellers in the German car manufacturer’s range of passenger cars.
It was then obviously time for a significant change: the Stuttgart-based company turned the initially comparatively small (only 3.57 meters long) and high vehicle model into an increasingly longer and lower car. While the second generation was still built according to the “sandwich principle”, in 2012 Mercedes-Benz launched an A-Class with a significantly lower height and a sportier design for the first time. After the market launch of the third generation, the car manufacturer also gained significantly younger customers. The current A-Class looks even sportier than its predecessors and is likely to be the last generation of the model series.
A-Class apparently unprofitable for Mercedes-Benz
Although the A-Class is Mercedes-Benz’s best-selling vehicle in Europe, the group plans to end production of the entry-level model in the middle of the decade. The “Handelsblatt” reported on Monday. There will be no successor for the variant as a hatchback or as an extended sedan. The daily newspaper relies on group circles.
The reason for leaving the A class is therefore the low margin. So the entry-level model should be unprofitable – just like the B-Class. In the past four years, however, every fifth car sold by Mercedes-Benz was still an A or B class – that is around 400,000 vehicles per year. With the withdrawal from the small and compact car segment, however, the automaker apparently wants to focus more on the vehicle models that bring the highest profit margins. These include luxury cars and SUVs in particular.
Sources: Mercedes-Benz, Handelsblatt, NZZSüddeutsche Zeitung (print edition)