Contract Hire News – Mercedes-Benz to expand small car production
Mercedes-Benz have four small production cars in development that will appeal to contract hire customers for whom economy and CO2 emissions are high on their ‘must-have’ list.
In an interview with a leading German newspaper a senior executive at Mercedes-Benz revealed that engineers at the prestige car manufacturer currently have as many as four new small cars in development.
Mercedes-Benz are relative newcomers in the small car market. They became the world’s most successful and valuable automotive brand by building big, prestigious executive saloons and some of the world’s most exciting sports cars. Mercedes-Benz range of saloon cars appealed to business contract hire customers and discerning individuals.
In 1997 Mercedes-Benz took their world-class safety credentials and outstanding build quality to enter a new and previously untapped market. The Mercedes-Benz A-Class was the first hatchback to be built by the German manufacturer and featured unique safety features that weren’t available in other cars in its segment, such as the sandwich-floor, where the low-mounted engine slides under the floor in the event of a heavy front-end collision.
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class also had anti-lock brakes (ABS), four airbags and electronic stability (ESP) and traction control as standard equipment – another first in the compact vehicle segment – which helped it achieve a 5-star Euro NCAP rating and was in demand from business leasing and personal contract hire customers alike.
The popularity of A-Class grew quickly with car buyers and car leasing customers. Over 140,000 models have been sold to date in the UK alone, making it one of the most popular models in the range.
Seven years after the A-Class was launched, Mercedes-Benz introduced the B-Class. Big brother to the A-Class, the B-Class offered more interior space and even more flexibility than its smaller sibling.
Mercedes-Benz was the first premium car manufacturer to enter the midi-MPV market and the superior safety features, build quality and refinements of the B-Class quickly earned it good market share.
BlueEfficiency models are available in both A- and B-Class model ranges enabling contract hire customers to benefit from fuel consumption figures as high as 64.2 mpg and CO2 emissions as low as 116g/km.
With Mercedes-Benz planning to increase their share of the small car market contract hire customers will have even more models choices in the coming years.
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