B Class in the US
Last Updated:
Mercedes might finally import the small B Class in the US next year.
Is there really a market here for it. Is could go well past the $30 000 mark loaded.
Last Updated:
Mercedes might finally import the small B Class in the US next year.
Is there really a market here for it. Is could go well past the $30 000 mark loaded.
Awesome Euro-Hatch. I drove a 2000 A-Class a month ago (the even smaller Euro-Hatch) and I must say that the car handled like a tank and was quite fun to throw around the road. Although exterior dimensions were marginal, the interior was HUGE! The B-Class is supposed to be a sportier and bigger A. If priced right, it might just find its way into the grubby hands of upper-middle Americans. BMW should bring the 1-series as well … again, keep the price around $30K. Great site, Vince!
Looks like a great city car! If the mpg is high enough, I’d buy one!
I checked out B200 in T.O. and was pleasantly surprised. Its one heck of a nice package. Pics dont do any justice to this vehicle.
First the R class station wagon and now the B class hatchback. Mercedes is in danger of losing its high class image in the US. On the bright side the new GL SUV is awesome.
that’s right mercedes, in a time when this brand needs more exclusivity, and not have a car in every model segment…
..go ahead and dilute the brand, weeee!
Nah, not small enough. I want the A class! Perhaps the A class is more affordable and more fuel efficient, good for financially insufficient people like me.
Looks like a photoshopped Scion xA. Come on, $30k for this? What is the world coming too? This looks cheaper than cheap.
Already sold in Canada.. gna gna ! ;-p
Already in Canada, gna gna ! ;-p
so in europe with both the A- and B-Class, is the Benz brand already diluted? Why does Benz need to produce only ‘exclusive’ and ‘high class’ vehicles for NA? If there is a market for smaller and high quality, why not capture it…?
I remember when Mercedes built honest-to-God luxury cars, not overpriced econoboxes. Very sad.
$30k for an unreliable, ego statement?
Pass.
This car looks about the same size as the Audi A3, doesn’t it? I think the A3 goes for about 27Grand, right?
I really do like the B class and would consider it, but Vince is right, 30 large is kinda steep.
Stupid assumptions of
cheap = small = bad
luxury = big = good
I can see this leads to why americans use so much oil…
Does anyone know how much it is in Canada?
Converted into US $.
They start around $30 000 dollars here in Canada. You do see a few around here but you do see more R class than B class.
If this is the same price range as the Mini Cooper, I’ll take the B class. But, 30k for this? u gotta be kidding me…
Hey! Just bought one in Canada. Prices start at 31K Cdn = 26.5K Usd
I haven’t tried the turbo model but the way the regular one handles… It must be a real pleaser.
Nice site Vince.
Was the 80s 190E an ‘honest-to-god luxury car’ or an ‘overpriced econobox?’ I’m tired of Americans who are so set in their ways when it comes to automobile brand values. If Benz maintained their previous strategy, they would have been eaten alive by Lexus and other Japanese luxury brands.
if you think thats bad, i heard that daimler chrysler, is going to make global platforms and put chryslers and mercedes on the same platform……but this b class seems nice enough a3 1 series, competitor
Why can’t Mercedes make a $30,000 small car?
It makes $100,000 S-classes that are the same size as a Crown Vic or a Chrysler 300.
THEY ARE MERCEDES! Let them make the best car in the small car segment too. (that’s their goal anyway, i’m not saying it is)
I don’t see it diluting the brand if Mercedes positions itself on the top of that segment as well.
Besides, I’d rather see one of these go for $30,000 than another SUV go for that amount and carry the same amount of passengers.
i think someone already said this, but to me an a-class would make much more sense. it has a more style and is available as a 3 or 5 door rather than just a 5 door. its also cheaper, gets better fuel economy, and is smaller. and after renting one, it has plenty of space. the b-class now seems a bit of a waste.
If Mercedes had concentrated on building the best luxury cars, instead of a vehicle for every market niche, Lexus would have been relegated to a near-luxury wannabe.
The comments about the B-class being junk may reflect Mercedes’ recently abysmal track record for quality problems rather than a bias against nicely-appointed small cars.
Nope, it’s not coming here. I recently asked the manager at Ewing Autohaus Mercedes-Benz and he said that Mercedes will not be importing the B-Class because the A3 isn’t selling as well as expected. Also, because the C-Class Coupe failed, they seem to believe that Americans don’t like small European luxury cars.
Plus, when I was in Europe last month, the people at the Mercedes-Benz Store in Paris near the Arc said that it’s not coming to the US.
A car dealer is the last person to ask for any kind of info…
Anonymous said…
The comments about the B-class being junk may reflect Mercedes’ recently abysmal track record for quality problems rather than a bias against nicely-appointed small cars.
Precisely the point. Mazda’s 3 is a premium small car (granted not as premium as a Benz), and Americans are buying them. Mazda has a good reliability track record whereas Mercedes does not. People don’t expect their $30k premium small car to spend time in the shop.
dont forget that the mini was a premium small car, but at $17k, it seems a far more reasonable proposition than a $30K Benz. most of the mini’s reliability issues are electrics rather than engines, transmissions, and computers. vince is absolutely right, never listen to a car dealer, do research ahead of time as they will do anything to sell.
“A car dealer is the last person to ask for any kind of info…”
Not when it’s one of the largest Mercedes-Benz dealers in the United States. Plus, I highly doubt the people at Paris’ Mercedes-Benz Store (not the dealership, but the store) said the same thing. Also, check out some MB forums – ppl say the same thing there. Mercedes-Benz already announced its not coming here…
It doesn’t matter how large the dealership is, they are all full of BS and their only goal is to sell you what they have at the moment. Not to inform you.
Mercedes was planning to seel the B class here before it came out.. Then they did announce they wouldn’t bring it to the states.
They are now rethinking about it, that’s all.
And what does the dealership is Paris has to do with anything????
that thing about dealers is far from true, they are trying to maket an honest living like everyone else. but on this b class it was originally suppose to be for us because the a class was to small they thought, from what i have seen it looks fine, the inside is nice enough, and if audi can for whatever reason charge the same price for an a3 as an a4, the 1 series can be priced about the same as the 3 over 30, and so many other cars in that segment tsx, jetta, 9-2x etc. whats wrong with mercedes doing it, will buy one no the mercedes isnt that important or presigous in my book with so many electric problems, hey other brands do it without complaint….but again doesnt seem like a bad idea, or a low rent car.
“that thing about dealers is far from true, they are trying to maket an honest living like everyone else.”
What planet do you live on???
I like the car. Before it came here, I think it needs a re-do. And about the car dealers…If they would actually let people look at cars and not attack us like sharks, people wouldn’t have a problem with them. I would go to car dealerships just to checkout a car if it wasn’t fo that. So no they are not trying to make an honest living.
For the sake of conversation, I’m copying what I posted on my blog over to this thread. The bottom line is, I don’t think we’ll see the B here.
LLN just posted a picture of the back half of a Mercedes B-Class being testing in Colorado. Now, there have been many other photos of B-Classes in the USA, so I think we have to take it with a grain of salt. However, there is the possibility that the B-Class could eventually make its way to the USA. Let’s not forget that the little bugger was originally designed with the USA market in mind. In fact the B-Class even appeared on MBUSA’s website under future vehicles and then one day disappeared. The official line had something to do with Euro/Dollar exchange rates, but we all know that MBUSA’s President Paul Halata is a small car hater. With Halata leaving his post, could the door be once again opened for the B?
Another obstacle for the B-Class has to be the fact that a delegation of Mercedes dealers went to Germany to beg Dieter Zetsche not to sell the smart in MB dealerships. The dealers felt that that the smart “did not commensurate with the Mercedes-Benz image.” Wouldn’t they feel the same about the B? Also, the B has had some difficulty gaining traction in Canada due to pricing. I believe that MB Canada has already fiddled with the pricing/equipment to help correct that imbalance. MBUSA would have to be very careful about pricing the B to avoid a similar fate here in the USA. All in all I would give the B’s chances of making it to the USA as being slim to none. Not that I wouldn’t like to see the car here, but I’m just not sure that the environment is right either from a dealer or customer perspective.
While pondering the B, why not check out the Canadian microsite.