Mercedes-Benz unveils lower-priced concept aimed at younger buyers

By Brent Snavely

Detroit Free Press Business Writer

Mercedes-Benz unveiled a concept with hints of its highly anticipated CLA-class concept sedan Sunday night at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel.

When it goes on sale this fall, the CLA-class will be Mercedes-Benz's entry-level model aimed at younger buyers. It will be priced below the popular compact C-class with a starting price of about $30,000, about $5,000 less than the starting price for the C-class.

"We are going to offer people a whole new way to enter the Mercedes family," said Joachim Schmidt, head of sales and marketing for Mercedes. "It will be much more attainable ... and win over customers who never thought they could consider a Mercedes."

Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler, said the CLA-class is built on a new platform and will be the basis for five new models for the brand, including a small crossover. Not all of those models will come to the U.S.

Gorden Wagener, Head of Design, Mercedes-Benz
 Cars, Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber, Member of the Daimler
 Board of Management, and Dieter Zetsche, Chairman
 of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head
 of Mercedes-Benz Cars pose for the press as
 Mercedes-Benz unveils the new 2014 CLA-Class on
 the eve of the North American International Auto Show
 at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel.

"The car is tremendous," said Roger Penske, chairman and CEO of Penske Automotive Group, who was among several hundred people who watched the unveiling of the car Sunday.

Mercedes also said it has developed a new all-wheel drive system for front-wheel drive cars that will debut on the CLA-class sedan and will be rolled out globally.

Penske predicted it will be a hot seller and will compete effectively with a growing number of small luxury cars and crossovers.

Amy Heidemann sings as the new CLA-class is
 unveiled Sunday at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit
 on the eve of the auto show. "We are going to offer
 people a whole new way to enter the Mercedes family,"
 said Joachim Schmidt, head of sales and marketing
 for Mercedes. / Photos by KATHLEEN
 GALLIGAN/Detroit Free Press

Increasingly, luxury automakers are introducing smaller, sporty cars and crossovers with price tags between $30,000 and $40,000.

Today, Lincoln will unveil the MKC compact crossover at the North American International Auto Show, Cadillac launched its compact ATS sedan last year and BMW launched its subcompact X1 crossover last year.

Larry Dominique, president of TrueCar.com, said the percentage of high-end luxury sales is remaining steady. Most of the growth among luxury brands is coming from the lower end of the market. But competition with mainstream brands is getting tougher because the quality and available technology in those brands continues to improve.

"You are going to see a greater number of luxury models, but I am not sure that luxury is going to capture a larger share of the overall market," Dominique said.

Those interested in the Mercedes CLA-class should look closely at the photos from Sunday's invitation-only event because the car will not be shown at the Detroit auto show, which begins today.

According to Mercedes, the next time the CLA will be shown will be in March at the Geneva Motor Show.

Success in the U.S. market is more important than ever for both Mercedes-Benz and BMW with Europe's recession and the automotive industry there struggling to deal with five straight years of declining industry sales.

In 2012, BMW outsold Mercedes-Benz for the second year in a row even as sales of the Mercedes-Benz brand increased 13%.

The interior of the CLA is shown. It will have a starting price of about $30,000, about $5,000 less than the starting price for the C-class.


BMW finished the year with a strong December and boosted its sales for the year to a total of 281,460 cars and crossovers in the U.S. compared with 274,134 for the Mercedes-Benz brand.
"BMW closed out 2012 by throwing haymakers and it connected on enough of them to hold on to its luxury sales crown," Jessica Caldwell, an analyst for Edmunds.com said earlier this month.


source freep.com