Indian Autos blog

Mercedes Benz will have five members in its small car family, the German auto maker’s chairperson Mr Dieter Zetsche told reporters in India recently. Mr Zetsche was in Chennai to commission the commercial vehicle plant that manufactures trucks under the Bharat Benz brand.

He said the five members are A-Class, B-Class (left), production version of the CSC shown in Beijing (right), a crossover on the MFA Platform dubbed GLC and an unspecified model.

The upcoming so called time machine – Mercedes S class has been continuously testing since the last year. Because of which it is an avid topic of discussion for spy photographers and rendering artists all across the globe. As the testing nears its end, more and more camo is dropped and rendering artists are literally feeding of such stuff.

Thanks to our friends at AutoEvolution, we bring you yet another rendering of the 2013 Mercedes S Class which looks very much close to production. As one can see, the front fascia is a complete revamp from the outgoing model. The headlamps are more rectangular keeping in tradition with the new design language. LED strips below the headlamps is becoming more of norm these days. Extensive art work can be seen on the side profile of the new S class.

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BMW is the king of the hill when it comes to the luxury market not only in India but also globally. But arch rival Mercedes is planning to change all of that by 2020. Mercedes Benz has pledged that it will become the world’s largest premium carmaker in 2020 by selling a jaw-dropping 2.7 million units worldwide.

The company popularly known at the Stuttgart star sold 1.26 million Mercedes-branded cars in 2011, about 120,000 short of the BMW brand. This means that the company is planning to more than double its output comes 2020. In order to achieve this production target the German czar has set a new North American plant would begin manufacturing the next generation A-Class by 2017.

The German from Stuttgart plans to challenge the supremacy of BMW starting 2012. Mercedes Benz plans to rejig its ‘Old money’ image by showcasing the brand’s dynamic and sporty capabilities. The major attraction at the Mercedes Stall will be the concept A-Class much revered for its expressive design and cool technological features.

Giving company to the Concept A Class will be SLS AMG GT3 super car and also its DTM C-Class car so that petrolheads could get some bang for their buck. AMG lovers will definitely see the entire AMG portfolio as well as the some more details about the soon-to-be-launched Mercedes-Benz-JPSI Performance Driving Academy.

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Struggling to match up with the existing competition, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has called for war on the rivals BMW and Audi. In the recent years, Mercedes Benz has been constantly outsmarted by the fellow German rivals globally in terms of sales as well as product innovation.

If it’s product innovation, BMW certainly takes the cake. The company from Bavaria has managed to create a new segments and innovative products for itself. If it’s marketing and product design, Audi is more successful in these aspects. Where does that leave Mercedes?

Zetsche takes no shame in admitting that the rivals have zoomed passed Mercedes and something needs to be done – hard and fast. He wrote a letter to all Daimler employees motivating them to pull up their socks.

He writes: “Some of our competitors are now growing faster and more profitably than we are. Granted, those are just snapshots in time and should not be overestimated. After all, many of our best new products are yet to come.”

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Indians by nature like to own stuff than rent it. We grow up with an aspiration of owning our own house and even our own car. But things are a bit different internationally where many people prefer to lease their cars. The benefits are quite evident:

• You don’t have to take a loan to pay a huge amount upfront
• You don’t have to worry about the servicing the car or spend on maintenance
• You have the option of getting a new car when your lease is over
• The ownership experience is totally hassle free

Mercedes Benz India is planning to introduce the leasing concept in the luxury car market for the first time. They are preparing to commence leasing vehicles to consumers in the Indian market by the end of this year. However, if you are an individual then there is some bad news for you. Mercedes is only planning to lease to corporate companies for the time being. If the venture attains a certain size, then individuals will be considered.

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Sources have told IndianAutosBlog.com that Mercedes Benz has pushed back the launch of the new C-Class to late Q3/early Q4. Earlier it was believed that the new C-Class will arrive in Q3. Compared to the first half of 2010, sales performance of the C-Class has shown considerable improvement.

In the period of January-June 2011, the C-Class became MB India’s flagship car by registering a 88% growth by reaching 1,746 customers compared to 928 units last year.

According to Mercedes Benz the new C-Class has about 2,000 new components compared to the outgoing car. The front-end has been completely revised, even having a light-weight aluminium hood. The rear bumper and one-piece jewel case type tail light are new. The dashboard has been redesigned with new materials and a host of new safety systems have been included including Attention Assist, Adaptive Highbeam Assist, Park Assist incl. PARKTRONIC, Lane Keeping Assist and Blind Spot Assist.

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Sources close to Mercedes Benz India have told IAB that the Stuttgart star is looking at Q3 2011 (July, August, September) to put the new C-Class on the market. The RHD version took Mercedes about six months to develop and the product is almost ready for launch.

Existing BlueEfficiency petrol and diesel engines (1.8- and 2.2-liter producing 170-204 hp) will be carried over as updating happened just last year. The facelifted C-Class has to ward of the enemies until the all-new C-Class is ready in 2013. Mercedes haven’t tried to outdo the outgoing car in every aspect. Instead they’ve chosen to focus on improving certain areas of the car like the interiors for example which will feature improved materials, tighter fit and smoother finish.

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