Since 1997, A-Class has played a vital role in the Mercedes-Benz product array. The second generation of the A-Class was launched to the market in September 2004 and till date; Mercedes-Benz has delivered 500,000 units of this compact and versatile model to customers.
The A-Class remains at the top of the customer’s preferences, particularly due to its unique safety concept, spacious interior and impressive versatility. The model is predominantly successful in Germany and Italy, where Mercedes-Benz has been successful in maintaining its market leadership in this segment for years. Other key sales markets for the three and five-door versions of the A-Class are France and the UK.
About a third of the A-Class customers pick the fuel-efficient A180 CDI diesel versions (with fuel consumption of 5.2 liters per 100 kilometers) while another third go for the A150 gasoline version (6.2 liters per 100 kilometers).
The well-known Öko-Trend Institute awarded its automotive environmental certificate to the A-Class in March this year. The institute cited that the A-Class not only has excellent values for fuel consumption, exhaust emissions, and noise levels, but also stands out by virtue of its environmentally friendly production processes, materials, and logistics.
The professionals mostly praised the A 160 CDI. The Mercedes-Benz-A 160 CDI can be considered one of the most environmentally compatible vehicles with a conventional drive system. A holistic environmental concept that takes the vehicle’s entire lifecycle into account was already employed during the compact’s development phase. For instance, various measures have reduced emissions during the production and vehicle operation of the new A-Class by about 17 percent compared to the forerunner model.
With the new A-Class, Mercedes-Benz has set new ecological standards for vehicles with conventional drive systems. Remarkably, The A160 CDI consumes 4.9 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers, which translates into 128 grams of CO2. With the production of the 500,000th unit, Mercedes-Benz has once again proved the worth of its existing A-class fame.
[Courtesy: Mercedes-Benz]
