The new president of Mercedes-Benz USA, Steve Cannon, has a tough task ahead. The former Army Ranger arrives just in time to oversee launches for the new SL and GL in 2012, as well as face lifts for other products. But the real challenge will be steering Mercedes into compact-car territory in the States. In Europe and elsewhere, Benz has offered the front-wheel-drive A- and B-classes for almost a decade. As Americans warm up to expensive compact cars—sorry, we mean premium compact cars—Mercedes is diving right into the market.
Between three and five little Benzes are in store for us—final decisions are still pending—with the most likely tally being four. The first arrives in about a year and a half, with one body style debuting every year thereafter. Here’s what we expect will make the cut, and what won’t.
Sleek Four-Door
A four-door sedan, nicknamed CLC by fans—Mercedes-Benz hasn’t actually said whether this is the real name—will be one of the first from the quartet to hit U.S. shores. Motivation will be provided by a new turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with direct injection—it should make about 210 hp and will be hooked to a dual-clutch automatic gearbox. Benz has confirmed that one or more of the A-class variants will get an AMG version; we’d put our money on this baby CLS being one of the lucky cars. Power for such a car would crest 300 hp, with extra traction provided by a Haldex-based all-wheel-drive system.
A-class Hatchback
The basic A-class, which is about the size of the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf, will also be sold here. What’s not sure is whether we’ll get the three-door version, as previewed by the A-class concept at the top of this page, or the five-door car. Or both. This image, released by the European design copyright office, shows what we believe to be a production-ready car. An official debut is imminent.
Compact Crossover
Finally, a crossover based on the A-class platform is also confirmed, according to our European sources. Our artist’s rendering gives an idea of what it could look like. Think of this all-wheel-drive model as a Baby GLK (which itself is a baby ML). We’ll put our money on this being the most popular of the four variants in the States.
B-Class MPV
The only new front-drive Mercedes-Benz to have been revealed so far is also the only one that won’t be coming to the States. The B-class, already on sale in Europe, is too similar to the A-class and the crossover to make sense here.
For an idea of what to expect from the various compact Mercedes models, read our drive of the new B-class.
Crossover illustration by Christian Schulte
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