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Mercedes-Benz to bring the A-classe to the USA

Hi.

This article is about Mercedes efforts to get into the small car 
arena.  If you're interested in the new BMW 318ti compact, or the
E1/E2 cars, this may interest you.  

Enjoy,
 .steve.
1983 528e, 376k Km 8^)
1987 528e, 117k Km

>         DETROIT (Reuter) - Hoping to define a new ``city car''
>niche, German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz AG said Friday it
>plans to sell its unconventional and relatively low-priced
>A-Class small car in the United States in the late 1990s.
>         The car is likely to carry a sticker price starting under
>$20,000, making it by far Mercedes' least expensive vehicle,
>Mercedes said. The C-Class, which debuted in the fall of 1993
>to replace the 190, starts at about $30,000.
>         Michael Bassermann, president and chief executive officer
>of Mercedes Benz of North America Inc, told reporters here
>that the automaker is still in the process of defining the
>U.S. version of the car, including whether it will be powered
>by an electric, gasoline, or diesel engine.
>         The car, which will be built in Rastatt, Germany, starting
>in 1997, is being designed primarily for use on the ancient,
>narrow streets of Europe's cities.
>         ``It will come here very definitely,'' Bassermann said.
>``There's definitely a market, we just have to determine where
>it is. It's certainly a younger-people vehicle and a vehicle
>for urban areas, like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.''
>         The A-Class will use a radical new design that includes
>placing the engine and transmission completely underneath the
>vehicle, which increases passenger room and improves its
>overall crashworthiness.
>         The end result will be a tall, narrow five-door car
>resembling a tiny van, similar to the Vision A-93 concept car
>that Mercedes displayed at auto shows last year.
>         Bassermann said the A-class car will have a shorter
>exterior than Chrysler Corp.'s Dodge Neon and Volkswagen AG's
>Golf, but the same interior volume as Mercedes' new C-class
>compact car, Bassermann said.
>         Bassermann said the A-Class will arrive in the United
>States before the end of the decade.
>         Mercedes needs to sell an electric car in the U.S. by the
>year 2003 in order to meet clean-air laws in California and
>several Eastern states, and the A-class has been designated to
>fill that need. But Bassermann said there also may be a market
>for a more conventionally powered version of the car.
>         U.S. sales of the A-Class car will be limited, he said,
>but could reach 5,000 to 10,000 units a year.
>         Mercedes also will augment its U.S. lineup in 1997 with a
>new luxury sport/utility vehicle to be built in Alabama.
>Bassermann also said the company hopes to finalise details on
>production of an ultra small two-seat car in a joint venture
>with the maker of Swatch watches, Societe Suisse
>Microelectronique et d'Horloerie SA.
>         The car, aimed at younger buyers and dubbed the
>``Swatchmobile'' by industry obervers, would likely be sold only
>in Europe., he said.
>         Separately, Bassermann said Mercedes expects to sell
>between 75,000 and 76,000 cars in the United States next year,
>up from about 70,000 cars this year.
>         In 1993, Mercedes sold 61,900 cars in the United States.
>Its peak U.S. year was 1986, with sales of 99,000 cars.
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Steven J. Bernstein                       Home: bernstein@domain.elided
P.O. Box 11242                            Work:    bernstein@domain.elided
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