Although Mercedes has announced that it would narrow the compact range from 7 to 4 models, the current generation Mercedes A-Class might not be the last and could have an electric successor.
In June this year, the German newspaper Handelsblatt announced that Mercedes would drop the A-Class hatch and sedan and the B-Class minivan.
This news was later confirmed by Mercedes, announcing that they were going to reduce the number of models in the compact range from 7 to 4. Subsequently, Mercedes informed that the future compact range would be based on the new MMA platform, originally designed for electric propulsion that can also accommodate conventional propulsion and that the first model on the new architecture will be the third generation of the Mercedes CLA. The other three models would be the CLA Shooting Brake, GLA and GLB.
But in a conversation with reporters from the British publication Auto Express, Holger Enzmann, project manager for the EVA 2 platform, used for the EQE/EQS luxury electric models, made a surprising statement: “We have talked about the A-Class and we’re looking at it [a replacement]. It won’t feature on EVA2 as that is for larger vehicles, but you can be sure we’ll see a vehicle in this segment.”
Mercedes’ decision to restructure the compact range is the result of new CEO Ola Kallenius’ strategy to focus on luxury models with higher profit margins. Kallenius has reorganized the Mercedes range into Entry Luxury (compact range, Core Luxury (C, GLC, E, GLE) and Top Luxury (GLS, S, G-Class, Maybach, AMG).
But we believe that the decision to drop the A-Class means that Mercedes will give a clear path in the segment to the competitors. Audi is considering an electric A3 based on the MEB group platform, while BMW is discussing a possible i1.
The current generation Mercedes A-Class was launched in April 2018 and is going to be produced until 2024 at least, with a facelift scheduled for the end of 2022. Therefore, a decision will probably be made in the coming months but no later than next year. And we think there are chances to see a next generation A-Class with electric propulsion based on the MMA platform.
