Mercedes-Benz continues to expand its acclaimed family of compact cars with the introduction of the all-new A-Class Sedan. Set to launch early next year, this four-door sedan combines dynamic proportions with impressive interior space, embodying the core virtues of the A-Class lineage. Featuring a wheelbase of 107.4 inches, the Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan boasts short front and rear overhangs, creating a sporty yet elegant silhouette. This new model is not just about aesthetics; it’s packed with a new, efficient engine, state-of-the-art driving assistance systems mirroring those found in the flagship S-Class, and the debut of the intuitive MBUX – Mercedes-Benz User Experience multimedia system. The world premiere of the 2019 Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan will be held in Brooklyn, NY in July 2018, with sales in the U.S. commencing in early 2019.
Britta Seeger, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, highlights the strategic importance of this new model: “Following the successful start of the A-Class, things at Mercedes-Benz are happening in quick succession with regard to the new family of compacts. In response to the wish of many customers, we now offer the A-Class for the first time as a sedan. Anyone looking for a compact, sporty sedan with a separate trunk now has a new, attractive alternative. It will attract new customers for Mercedes-Benz.”
The introduction of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan marks a significant step in the brand’s rejuvenation and image evolution, particularly in the compact car segment. Mercedes-Benz first entered the U.S. compact car market with the CLA Coupe in 2013. By 2017, almost half of Mercedes-Benz compact car buyers in the U.S. were converts from competitor brands, and over 50% of CLA customers were new to the Mercedes-Benz family. Building upon the legacy of the original 1997 A-Class, which pioneered Mercedes-Benz’s entry into the compact segment, the A-Class Sedan is the seventh model to join this expanding range, which has collectively delivered over six million vehicles worldwide. This sedan is a logical extension, reinforcing Mercedes-Benz’s leadership in premium sedans alongside the C, E, and S-Class models.
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan presents practical dimensions without compromising on spaciousness:
- Length: 179.1 inches
- Width: 70.7 inches
- Height: 56.9 inches
- Wheelbase: 107.4 inches
Despite its compact footprint, the A-Class Sedan offers generous shoulder, elbow, and headroom, along with easy access to the rear seats. Notably, rear headroom has been significantly improved, and the trunk is designed for maximum usability with a wide opening, facilitating effortless loading and unloading of larger items.
Engine and Performance of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan will be available in two configurations: the A 220 and A 220 4MATIC. Both models are powered by a responsive 2.0L inline-4 turbocharged engine, delivering 188 hp and 221 lb-ft of torque. This engine is paired with a smooth and efficient 7G-DCT dual-clutch transmission, ensuring a dynamic and comfortable driving experience.
Key Equipment and Appointments: Enhanced Convenience with KEYLESS-GO®
The standard equipment for both the A 220 and A 220 4MATIC versions of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan is comprehensive. It includes the revolutionary MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience multimedia system with touchscreen and Voice Control). Safety remains paramount, with standard features such as Active Brake Assist and adaptive braking technology incorporating Hill Start Assist and the HOLD function. For personalized style, the A-Class Sedan offers customizable design and equipment lines, including the standard Progressive line and the optional AMG Line, along with a Night Package.
For added convenience, KEYLESS-GO with HANDS-FREE ACCESS is available as an option. This feature enables hands-free, fully automatic trunk opening activated by a simple kicking motion under the rear bumper, perfect for when your hands are full.
Exterior Design: Sportiness and Modern Aesthetics
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan perfectly embodies Mercedes-Benz’s Sensual Purity design philosophy, characterized by clean, harmonious surfaces. The design language emphasizes surface areas with minimized lines and precise contours. Its proportions reflect a dynamic, compact sedan with short overhangs that enhance its agile appearance.
The vehicle’s dynamic appeal is further accentuated by its deep greenhouse and compact rear. Available 17 to 19-inch wheels and pronounced wheel arches contribute to the A-Class Sedan’s confident stance on the road.
The front-end design is strikingly progressive, featuring a low, elongated hood, slim chrome headlamps, torch-like daytime driving lights, and an optional single-louvre diamond radiator grille with chrome pins and the iconic central star. A distinct line flows along the shoulder, emphasizing the sculpted side volume, while the side mirrors are integrated into the beltline, adding to the sleek profile.
The two-part taillamps accentuate the width of the rear, and the rear reflectors are integrated into the modular two-part rear bumper. Depending on the chosen specification, the rear bumper can be fitted with a black diffuser or a chrome trim strip and chrome tailpipe tips, allowing for further personalization.
Interior Design: A Revolution in Cabin Space and Style
The interior of the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan represents a complete redesign, showcasing a modern, avant-garde aesthetic. Mercedes-Benz has revolutionized the compact class interior, creating a sense of spaciousness previously unheard of in this segment. The dashboard’s avant-garde design is central to this transformation. Designers have eliminated the traditional cowl above the cockpit, allowing the wing-shaped main dashboard to extend seamlessly from door to door, creating a visually expansive space with a free-standing widescreen display. The sporty turbine-look air vents further enhance the interior’s modern appeal.
Below the main body, a low-lying section with floating fenders adds to the sense of openness, with ambient lighting accentuating this free-floating effect. The optional ambient lighting system offers 64 colors – five times more than previous systems – composed into ten color themes that create dynamic and emotionally engaging lighting displays with spectacular color transitions.
The fully free-standing cockpit is available in two configurations to suit individual preferences:
- Two 7-inch displays (standard)
- Two 10.25-inch displays (optional)
MBUX – Mercedes-Benz User Experience: Unrivaled Connectivity and Personalization
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan is the first Mercedes-Benz vehicle to feature the all-new MBUX – Mercedes-Benz User Experience multimedia system. This system marks a new era in in-car connectivity, utilizing Artificial Intelligence to learn and adapt to the user’s needs. MBUX is highly customizable, creating an emotional connection between the vehicle, driver, and passengers through its intuitive and personalized operation.
Depending on the specification, MBUX features a high-resolution widescreen cockpit with a touchscreen media display with Augmented Reality capabilities, a digital instrument cluster display, and intelligent voice control with natural speech recognition, activated by the keyword “Hey Mercedes.” The system offers comprehensive touch control via the touchscreen, touchpad on the center console, and Touch Control Buttons on the steering wheel. An optional head-up display is also available. MBUX revolutionizes the user experience with emotionally appealing features and brilliant 3D graphics rendered in real-time, making interactions intuitive and engaging.
INTELLIGENT DRIVE: Advanced Driver Assistance Technology from the S-Class
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan offers optional advanced driver assistance systems derived from the S-Class, bringing semi-autonomous driving capabilities to the compact class for the first time. Enhanced camera and radar systems provide an extended field of vision of over 1,500 feet, enabling the car to monitor traffic situations comprehensively. The system also utilizes map and navigation data to proactively support driving functions. For instance, Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC® can provide route-based speed adjustments when approaching bends, junctions, or roundabouts. The Driver Assistance Package also includes Active Emergency Stop Assist and the intuitive Active Lane Change Assist.
Standard Active Brake Assist in the A-Class Sedan helps mitigate or prevent rear-end collisions with vehicles ahead, and can also detect crossing pedestrians and cyclists, intervening to prevent or lessen potential impacts. Active Lane Keeping Assist warns the driver via steering wheel vibrations if the vehicle drifts unintentionally from its lane between 37 and 125 mph and can correct course by braking on one side if a solid lane marking is crossed. For dotted lines, intervention occurs only if there’s a risk of collision in an adjacent lane, including oncoming traffic.
PRE-SAFE® PLUS can detect imminent rear-end collisions and, if the vehicle is stationary and the danger persists, apply the brakes firmly to minimize secondary collisions and reduce injury risk from forward jolts.
Passive Safety: Robust Passenger Compartment and Modern Restraint Systems
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan is the first model developed at Mercedes-Benz’s new Technology Centre for Vehicle Safety (TFS), incorporating real-world accident research findings into its structural design. Each body shell component is engineered to withstand specific loads and stresses, optimizing geometry, material thickness, joining technology, and material quality, including increased use of high-strength and ultra-high-strength steel. The centerpiece of the safety concept is the highly rigid passenger compartment, constructed with a greater proportion of advanced steels to ensure exceptional rigidity in frontal, lateral, rear-end collisions, and roll-overs.
Both driver and front passenger seats are equipped with three-point seat belts with belt force limiters and tensioners. Standard safety features include driver and front passenger airbags, a driver’s knee airbag, and window airbags that cover the A-pillar for enhanced protection – a feature often lacking in competitor models. Thorax-pelvis side airbags are standard in the front and optional for the rear.
LED Intelligent Light System: Superior Visibility in All Conditions
The optional LED Intelligent Light System further exemplifies technology trickling down from luxury classes to the compact Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan. This system allows for rapid, precise, and electronically controlled adjustment of the headlamps to adapt to various traffic situations. Each headlamp incorporates multiple individually activated LEDs, providing daylight-color illumination that is easy on the eyes and enhances driver concentration. The road ahead is brightly and precisely illuminated. Standard models feature LED Headlamps with integrated LED Daytime Running Lamps.
Suspension: Agile and Comfortable Ride
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan offers a choice of suspension systems to cater to different driving preferences: comfort suspension, lowered comfort suspension with AMG line, or adaptive suspension. The front axle utilizes a McPherson design, while the rear features a multi-link setup. Wheel options range from 17 to 19 inches.
Production: Global Manufacturing in Mexico and Germany
Production of the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan commenced this year in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The COMPAS (Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes) plant, a joint venture with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, expands Mercedes-Benz Cars’ compact car production network to five locations across three continents. Production at the Mercedes-Benz Rastatt Plant in Germany will begin in 2019. Rastatt is the lead plant for compact cars within the global production network, overseeing global production control, quality, and supplier management, and supporting start-ups at other plants.
The all-new 2019 Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan is poised to redefine the compact sedan segment, offering a compelling blend of luxury, technology, and driving dynamics, making it an attractive option for discerning customers in the U.S. market and beyond.
