Mercedes-Benz launches B-Class facelift, updated A-Class

March 11, 2015 06:58 pm | Updated 07:00 pm IST - MUMBAI

Eberhard Kern, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India with the 2015 A-Class model. Photo: Sashi Ashiwal

Eberhard Kern, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India with the 2015 A-Class model. Photo: Sashi Ashiwal

Luxury car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz launched a facelift of its luxury tourer, B-Class and an upgrade of its entry-level A-Class. The new products are a part of Mercedes-Benz India’s aggressive product strategy ‘15 in 15’ as the company gears up to launch 15 products in the year 2015.

The new B-Class vehicles - B 180 Sport and B 200 CDI Sport - were launched in both petrol and diesel variants and is the third vehicle launched by the company this year following the CLA-Class in January and C 220 CDI in February 2015. The B 180 Sport is priced at Rs. 27.95 lakh and B 200 CDI Sport is priced at Rs. 28.05 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai).

Mercedes-Benz also launched the A-Class upgrades with a panoramic sunroof as standard. The petrol version of A 180 Sport is priced at Rs. 25.95 lakh while the A 200 CDI Sport, which has a more powerful engine providing 25 per cent more power and 20 per cent additional torque, is priced at Rs. 26.95 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai).

“We pioneered luxury touring in India with the B-Class and this paved the way for our success in the segment. The popular A-Class has an India-specific suspension that enhances driving comfort,’’ Eberhard Kern, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, said.

“The new generation cars [A-Class and B-Class] play a significant role in our product strategy and in 2014, accounted for 20 per cent of our sales and will continue to grow.’’

The company recorded its best ever sales in 2014 selling 10,201 units and growing of 13 per cent. Mercedes-Benz makes the S-Class, E-Class, C-Class, GL-Class and the M-Class in its Pune facility set up at an investment of Rs. 1,000 crore.

“With the doubling of capacity at Pune to 20,000 units per annum, we are also making the CLA, our sixth product in India. No doubt, more products will follow,’’ Mr. Kern told this correspondent.

However, Mr. Kern ruled out exporting products from Pune for the time being. He said the the facility was a multi-product, low volume one and would cater to the domestic market for now.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.