The cleverest, safest and potentially most efficient small car on earth is the Mercedes A-class. It’s all the car most of us need. But the car we all want is a Mini. Mercedes is addressing that little quandary. It will build a Mini rival for 2011.
As you’ll remember, what makes the A-class such a wonder of space efficiency is its double floor. The engine and its crash zone tucks down there, and the suspension and fuel tank and exhaust. Up above is a roomy mezzanine for the people.
Trouble is, these high chairs and one-box silhouette don’t exactly make things feel racy. The A-class is too po-faced for its own good.
Herbert Kohler, Mercedes‘ head of advanced engineering and powertrain, tells Foreman the company has a plan to build two heights of small car next time around.
‘We have a new definition of vehicle architecture,’ says Kohler. He says the new generation will be available with double-floor for a micro-MPV – like now – but also a lower, single-floor car. And different wheelbases too.
In other words, Mercedes will use many of the same parts, and the same production line, to build a car more like the Mini or Audi A1. It will be cheaper to build (the A-class currently doesn’t make much money) and it’ll appeal to more of us because it’ll be less oddball. Being lower, it’ll look better and can’t help but be more fun to drive.
Mercedes has to sell more small cars to get its average fuel figure down, because that’s what the EU is ordering.
By switching to a more conventional small-car outline, the A-class will also be able to share engines with other cars. The current low-mounted inclined engines are unique in shape and need special transmissions. They’re getting old but Mercedes can’t afford to engineer from scratch a new set of engines for this car alone.
Kohler says Merc’s new four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, just coming on-line in the E-class, have been can be shrunk and mounted transversely in this new small car. They can even be made in three-cylinder form.
But he says using in-house engines is only one of the options on the table. We hear Mercedes is also exploring sharing engines with other manufacturers, including possibly Mini.
Imagine: two competitors, same engine. Mercedes and BMW are openly talking about the possibility of this sort of large-scale co-operation if it gets them out of the current financial hole.
Anyway, back to the cars. Other variants of this low-floor version will likely include a sports coupe or mini-roadster badged SLA. That’s especially likely if the upcoming VW and Audi baby roadsters do well.
Then the double-floor cars. There will be a micro-MPV replacement for the current A-class and B-class, of course, about 2011-12.
Mercedes needs the double floor because it will also make alternative propulsion cars. In fact, Kohler was telling me all this as we looked at three Mercedes Detroit Show concept cars. These were a fuel-cell car, an electric car, and an electric car with a range-extending petrol engine. They used the underfloor chasms to secrete safely their batteries and hydrogen tanks.
Oh and by the way, those concepts also give us a good clue what they will look like. Expect the fuel-cell car in selected markets in 2012. The fuel-cell and hybrid cars car will look different from the regular petrol and diesels, because Mercedes noticed from Prius sales that early-adopter green buyers like to be noticed.
i think this could be a good move by merc the A class and B class are ugly but those concepts look cool.
It will be extremely difficult to make a small car better than a mini. The most difficult thing is trying persuade Mini drivers out of their Minis. To do so they will have do make an astonishing small car packed with lots of fun and, most importantly, tons of character, that’s how the Mini succeeded. The only problem with this is that Mercedes don’t really know how to make a fun small hatchback; Ford, Mazda, Honda and occasionally Volkswagen all know how to make a car stuffed with fun and character so Mercedes will probably fail, unless they have a great idea, very doubtful though.
(^_^)
Is there a manufacturer with enough imagination to stick the pedals in the back of the cart. This will sort the rear springing and leave lots of space at the front to play with. Being an old bloke I recall rear wheel drive with affection. Cross-ply tyres helped Anglias, with 1500GT motors, to have interesting handling at low and “high”speed. My rear engine 89 transporter loved to squat for roundabouts. Front wheel drive just produces excess wheelspin understeer & a “noddy” ride.
Mercedes’ are rubbish!
They’ve lost the quality they once famous for.
Interiors feel cheap, even in the AMGs’
I had a CL 65 briefly, although a good GT, I’m sorry but its a lazy, boring mans’ car.
Part exchanged it for a Maserati Granturismo and I’ve never looked back. You feel so much more involved in the driving.
Mini are famous for being THE little british car, its not just about a good small car, its about the heritage and tradition.
If you want a good small car, buy the mini.
Stay away from Mercedes. Or I’ll be extremely tempted to carry a loaded weapon at all times
i hate the convertible THING but i luv the green mini car that rocks”!!!
i (L) green thing!!
before i rant i will say that i didn’t bother reading all of it..
but
all i can say is… i hate the A class with a fiery passion! i despise all it stands for, those who kid themselves that they have something better than a golf just ‘cos its a ‘mercedes’ (which is a pretty shambolic claim to fame nowadays anyway)… the overly stressed middle aged women that drive them!
the B class is the same only with more ugliness included into that bargain.
..so thank god these new ones look improved!
fiver to everyone here though if those concepts actually become a reality.
I love the a-class! But this concept is amazing!! I’ve got a mate who had an a-class, it was a pretty good car!
Although it CAN NOT beat a good british mini (even if they are a tincy bit german!) xox:)
Gentle Cribbins – if you’d fought your anger and read on you’d have found that the new car they’re planning will be very different from the current A-class, so maybe your hatred will be diffused. Chill out man, or woman.
No matter how good the car is, Mercedes has the one thing that most car companys need, passion. One of the many ways to obtain passion is making a car look good i.e Vauxhall Insigna, Aston Martin DBS, Alfa Romeo Brera ect. The concepts may look good but the finished product looks, well TERRIBLE. And thats my problem with this car.
sorry, i made a mistake in my comment, Mercedes deos not have any passion
in reply to John g
mercedes wont have any passion because they are a german company
the only car manufacturers to have any passion were british or italian such as aston martin, marcos, ferrari, alfa etc
the germans do it just simply to be the best and for money
in reply to john g and R.S
have neather of you two morons ever seen the wiesmann mf3 or the wiesmann mf5 gt???
now say they are passoinless
Mercedes can make a good, nice-looking car, but they’ll never match the motoring legendry and history of the Mini. Yeah, sure, Mini is now BMW, but it’s still made in England and it looks like the old Mini. And Mercedes never had David vs. Goliath epics in the BTCC like Mini did.
Woo, a bigger Smart is coming!
Please, stop russian Top Gear!!! For God’s sake, it’s awful. It’s really, really boring…
Yeas the concepts look cool but it could go badly wrong!
All very nice, but isn’t Mercedes’ Mini rival the Smart?
This is an amazing move by merc as long as the price is rite they sould be able to battle throught this credit crunch bring it on
HEY! what. mercedes is going to built a small car! UAO! anyway the dacia sandero….
no seriously, the only people that are going to buy it are mercedes buyer and rapper-wannabe.
for the mini i never understood all the connection with the old one. I mean, c’mon, the new one it’s way bigger, way expensive, and designed for completely different target. The old one was a little cheap clever car, the new one is small inside and big outside weight billion of tons and is a posh, look-at-me-car. Yes is a very good car as all the bmw but it came from the bmw=cock time.
y do merc even try but then again you neaver know they might come up with a A 64 amg?
I don’t really like the look of those concepts. The roadster one – with its silly aeroplane-cum-SLR nose – looks like quite an old concept car (mid-’90s?), and the BlueZero just looks wierd. It’s a silly colour, the creases down the side looks messy and I don’t like the shape of the front.
@22. What rapper wannabe owns an A-Class? Even poor ones would just chav-up a second hand C or E.
anyhting anyone will come up with to rival the mini will just be a copy rival.. ppl bought the mini because it´s a mini..were bmw to stick on a bmw badge, I´m guessing, it wouldn´t have sold as well so they didn´t… anyonre can make a small car.. but there´s only one mini.. rivals or not.. so an other small merc ? sure why not…
What’s the fuss. It’s a Merc!! They fall apart. The Mini’s had it’s day anyway. Although I’m 11 and three quarters, I’d much rather have an Alfa Mito or my favourite Fiat 500!
Well, I’m sure all Mini enthusiats are a bit disappointed with the new Mini, but I still can’t disown it. But I do fancy the 500 Abarth over the JCW…
More German rivalry. They’re good at that.
The new mini has always been little more than a 2+2 (Try spotting a mini with more than two people in) & never a ‘family’ car at all. It is not even practical as an estate. The Merc isn’t the most pretty, but look at all the families who brought the ugly but practical Multipla. Looks & driving dynamics might mean the world to 25 year old estate agents, but a firm ride & go-cart handling means travel sickness for kids. Easy access, lots of space & cost are the defining factors of a family car.
I think this is embarrasing. Mercedes is supposed to be about class and elegance.
Mercedes need this car or they will lose money end of story lets hope it looks good! they could make it under a different brand name which might help sales?!
Cool! I am bored of the Mini but 2011! The MiTo will have already swallowed and sewn up all the sales…hopefully!!
cooooooooooooooooool its gonna be so hi tech cause 2011 will mean better evrything and its taking mini cars to whole new leval .
…um, no. Mercedes won’t make a Mini rival. Mercedes will make a small car with a 3 pointed star on the front. There’s a considerable difference.
There’s not going to be a car that beats the Mini over here. There will be better cars, undoubtedly, but you won’t get one with the cult following, image, and overall package that you get with a Mini.
Firstly, you need to give an existing classic a re-birth. Mini had… the Mini, Fiat had the 500, VW had the Beetle, etc. Mercedes have the Gullwing and the G-Class, neither of which are conveniently small or Mini-shaped. Which means they’ll have to come up with something ‘new’, thereby instantly failing unless it’s totally radical. This isn’t going to be radical – Merc already have the Smart for that.
Secondly, you need a decent brand behind it. Mini has BMW, who have obviously made sure it handles well and actually works – exactly what they’re good at. Again, Fiat have done what they’re good at – making things small and cheap. Mercedes are good at making things ‘luxurious’, so it would seem. Which means they’ll probably make a pint sized S-Class. We’ve already got one of those, it’s called the A-Class, and we don’t like it very much.
Thirdly, you’ve got the market we’re in. In times of credit crunch, the Fiat 500 can be seen as good value because it’s comparatively cheap. Similarly, a Mini can too because it’ll look after your investment better than most savings accounts will at the moment. So, Mercedes will either have to be cheap (Ha!) or will have to find some way of making it hold its value. It’s a small Mercedes – it won’t hold its value. I think that’s 3 fails.
It won’t help that the Merc will (obviously) be German. Fine, Mini (as it is now) is German too, but in Britain nobody likes to point that out. My German friend doesn’t even like pointing that out (and wants one, incidentally). Fiat can get away with it because they’re Italian (and therefore good at small cars), but it doesn’t sit right with us to have a German company making chic city-run-a-rounds. Particularly a German company with such inherent luxurious, golf-clubs-in-the-back connotations.
And what are they going to call it? A-Class, presumably, as there’s no other letters left. Well we already know the A-Class as a tall supermini that occasionally falls over, so having a totally different one won’t sit right. They need to pull a Vauxhall Insignia job on it. But wait! They can’t because it won’t fit in with the rest of the lineup’s labels. What a pickle.
They can’t stick it with Smart either, because then you’ll have another ForFour (and we all know how well that venture paid off). So we’ll be left with a small, luxurious Mercedes with no historic background called the A-Class. Remind me again how this is different to what we have now…?
@34 I sort-of agree.
In the sense that at my eyes the mini looks cheapish as well, just a tiny bit less than the 500 (and it’s definitely appropriate, considering the price difference between the two of them).
This can be a tiny-Merz strong point… since small 70’s merzes don’t exist, they cannot copy themselves, and freely battle with the MiTo on the non-replica-small-car market.
That until Lancia will consider getting interested in the uk again, which can happen only if Saab blows, I suppose, but that’s another story.
in 2011 i will see how it goes for both benz and mini.but for now i will sick with mini the in safe spot.i don’t thing that benz will make it but lets see how when the time comes.i like mini old school cars which are small and cute like hamster !
Yess original minis are great, this is definitely “not an opinion”
Old Minis and old 500 Abarth were the only cars that were quick and cute at the same time, therefore very up in coolness yesterday and nowadays.
I love minis, but these new ideas are so ugly! Carry on BMW Mini! Mercedes shouldnt go with Mini, they already have Smart who theyve managed to make a hash of!
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ermmmm i dont think this will work because too many people love the mini and i dont think mercades will be able to make anything better.so i dont think that the mini will not have a rival
i CANNOT imagine a Mercedes with character to match a Mini. Look at the A-Class 0____0
i think that it is wrong to give bmw a rivel because bmw mini are feeling the crunch and more people will be waiting for the merc to come out and when it does less people will go for the mini
thats my thoughts thank you for reading JONO THE YETI
Its a funky b-class! Mini is better.
mini coopers is so much better you cant make a new version
man these people from merc are never ever satisfied i say!!!! why can’t they leave the mini alone???
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Not really keen on any mercs but the old 300sl gullwing blew me away when I saw one lately at a show – wow!!
@ 34.Well Merc could buy out another company or bring it out under a defunct brand, how many old BL brands are there out there to poach or any others tbh. Or better yet for a bit of cult appeal Trabant
Now Mercedes have the right idea here! instead of making these electric cars, cut CO2 emissions by creating a smaller range of cars within the industry to rival rather pleasant cars such as the Mini. That should make things a little greener without having to resort to electricity. I say that but Mercedes seems to be jumping on the electric car bandwagon as well :/
Bring on Bruce Dickinson to drive the reasonably priced car. The mans a God.
I think i’ve seen this car on commercials. I had this automatic parking stuff like the lexus doesnt it? But dont you think the engine is rather too small: 4cyl?
How about a really radical small car: ten feet long, mid engine under the rear seats, petrol tank under the front seats, radiator and spare wheel in front. Radical? Well, that’s the 1993 Rover Spiritual show car, cancelled by BMW in favour of the MINI.
I cannot believe this will work!
Sometimes it’s really that simple, isn’t it? I feel a little stupid for not thinking of this myself/earlier, though.