Mercedes Benz, the German luxury marque, is putting in a lot of effort to regain its share which the company lost to its close competitors, Audi and BMW over the past couple of years. In order to attain its desired goals, Mercedes-Benz has come up with some decent launches which will surely act as volume pullers for the German auto maker.
Heading the bandwagon, the first car to be launched in the company’s new strategy will be the 2012 B-Class Sports Tourer. It is anticipated that the car maker will introduce its much awaited car sometime in July 2012. Post launch, B-Class will hold the title of the company’s first entry-level model in the Indian auto market, and is anticipated to efficiently compete with Audi Q3 and the BMW X1, in terms of price.
B-Class, being similar to that of an oversized hatchback is a new segment in Indian industry, whereas the Audi Q3 and the BMW X1 are advanced crossovers, so the competition seems to be quite fascinating. Since B-Class will be the first of its kind in the Indian auto market, it will be quite exciting to look upon the marketing strategy, which will be adopted by the car maker.
Reportedly, B-Class is based on the new MFA platform of Mercedes, which will target young buyers and couples. During the initial phases, the car maker is planning to bring-in only its petrol version as a Completely Built Unit (CBU). However, analysts believe that the new car will be later routed as Completely Knocked Down (CKD) units and will be then offered in petrol and diesel powertrains as well. The CKD units will be assembled at the company’s Chakan unit.
In terms of technical specifications, the petrol model is anticipated to incorporate a 1.6 litre, four cylinder turbo petrol motor, which will be offered in two different configurations. The first one will have the potential to churn out 120 bhp, whereas the other one will generate 155 bhp. On the other hand, the diesel model will hold a 1.8 litre turbo powertrain, which will be also offered in two different tuning. The first one is believed to generate 108 bhp, whereas the second will produce 135 bhp of maximum power. It is anticipated both the engines will be offered with an option of either 6 speed manual transmission system or a 7 speed dual clutch automatic gearbox.
In the present scenario, big players like BMW and Audi are playing bullish on the Indian auto market and are busy in bringing their new models to the Indian shores. In order to remain in limelight, Mercedes-Benz has preponed the launch of its new 2012 B-Class which is sure to boast of advanced provisions for comfort and safety features. Recently, Audi introduced its entry-level crossover Q3, which received an overwhelming response from the Indian buyers. Squaring off against
