Mercedes CEO Suggests They May Drop Some Entry-Level Models

[cawimmer430]

A-Class Sedan is being dropped in the USA and Canada. 


Mercedes CEO Suggests They May Drop Some Entry-Level Models

Mercedes is in the process of streamlining their lineup and it appears entry-level models like the A-Class could be on the chopping block.

Nothing has been officially announced, but Autocar is reporting Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius used the Financial Times Future of the Car summit to say "We will talk more next week, but it's not our goal to be a competitor of the volume producers. That's not what the Mercedes-Benz brand stands for."



Källenius added the company would rather be "looking up than down," which suggests the automaker wants to focus on higher-end models. He went on to say "stay tuned as far as our product portfolio is concerned."

While Källenius didn't say what entry-level models could be dropped, the A-Class sits at the bottom of their lineup and is being killed off in the United States and Canada. As the company told us earlier this year, "After careful consideration, MBUSA will no longer offer the V177 A-Class (A220W / A220W4) sedan in the U.S. after the current model year (MY22). While the A-Class was extremely well received by our customers since its introduction in 2019, this decision is consistent with our ongoing effort to streamline our product offering strategy. The GLA SUV will take over the A-Class' position as the entry point into the MBUSA product range."

If that statement is taken into global consideration, it's possible Mercedes wants their entry-level lineup to focus on crossovers instead of sedans and hatchbacks. It sounds like we'll learn more shortly, but it would be somewhat surprising if the A-Class was dropped as the company sold 198,926 units in Europe in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing chip crisis. European sales dropped to 118,439 units last year, but that's still significantly better than the 75,124 GLAs sold in the same period.



Link: https://www.carscoops.com/2022/05/mercedes-ceo-suggests-they-may-drop-some-entry-level-models/

[Morris Minor]

It's happened. They've dropped the A-Class. Would not surprise me if they dropped the B too. There's little margin in small cars. The legacy manufacturers need the high-profit bigger models to have any chance of staying afloat beyond this inflection point.

[veeman]

It's happened. They've dropped the A-Class. Would not surprise me if they dropped the B too. There's little margin in small cars. The legacy manufacturers need the high-profit bigger models to have any chance of staying afloat beyond this inflection point.

I think it's very hard for a luxury make to compete with the mainstreamer brands for smaller non-sporty cars.  What's the point of getting a luxury car when it looks like an economy or mainstreamer brand car?  The incremental increase in quality is generally not worth the price increase in that segment.