All posts tagged mercedes concept a
Driving and twittering part one: the Mercedes A-Class concept connectivity
If you want to steal younger car customers away from other brands the best way to do that so far seems to be to offer them everything their life packed into their Smartphone can handle, on the inside of the car. Mercedes Benz quotes one of its users as saying “I don’t want my life to stop when I get into my car” and so here are the new connectivity solutions being offered on the Mercedes A-Class concept.
The Concept A has quite a futuristic interior and the infotainment system graphics are described as “revolutionary”. While they might appeal more to geeks than to “digital natives”, they do suit the car and get the message across. What is the message? Much like the Ford Evos Concept, the Mercedes Concept A interior and connectivity is all about continuing your lifestyle on the inside of your car. Although for our money, Ford seemed more focused on providing a new driving experience and way of thinking, rather than possibility to update your Facebook status.
The Mercedes system means you can Twitter away while actually in your car as smartphone apps are made accessible by the car’s connectivity system. All this “while you’re driving”, although Mercedes does actually clarify that the intuitive system has been developed with minimal driver distraction so that customers can keep their eyes on the road.
That’s nice to know - we have visions of lots of distracted driving or alternatively lots of people sitting in parked cars, maybe in their garages, as they Twitter before entering their own home…. On the whole, though, it’s pretty cool stuff - see how the new Mercedes A-Class concept connectivity works in the video above.
New Mercedes A-Class leaked?
According to internet mumblings, these are the patent images for the new 2012 Mercedes A-Class. We’ve already seen the Mercedes Concept A at the 2011 Shanghai Motor Show and despite a few tweaks to give it less of a show-car look, the model is pretty close to production ready.
These particular images show a calmer looking new A-Class but it is faithful to the overall coupé-hatchback concept. Glaringly missing is the star-studded grille from the showcar. If the new A-Class turns out anything like this, I’m prepared to fall in love with a model I’ve always disliked. Autoblog says there are a few CLS touches and the front end is clearly a Merc.
Mercedes A-Class AMG and future design details
The new Mercedes A-Class production version to come next year will be similar to the design of the Concept A recently presented both in Shanghai and at the New York Auto Show. The new A-Class design made quite a splash when it was revealed but as with all showcars the question becomes what stays and what goes in terms of design.
According to Autocar and an interview with Mercedes design director Gorden Wagener, the Vision A Concept production A-Class will keep the overall coupé look, but will accommodate five doors and as such the window design will be slightly changed, as will the headlights and grille.
The new Mercedes A-Class interior will join the race for infotainment supremacy, with the capacity to download apps so that owner’s can upgrade the technology during their ownership of the car. The company is expected to take the opportunity to improve Mercedes quality, with better build and materials above those of the C-Class.
The current concept version has a four-cylinder turbo petrol engine with dual-clutch seven-speed gearbox which will mark the way for future A-Class engines. All petrol units will be turbo models and the transmission will be manual, with the dual-clutch offered as an option. Start&stop will be standard. We will also get an AMG A-Class with a more powerful engine and possible four-wheel drive.
Mercedes A-Class Concept new pics
The new Mercedes A-Class is on show at the 2011 Shanghai Motor Show in the form of the Concept A, and has since gone on display in New York at Daimler showrooms. The sexy little A-Class is a far cry from the compact people mover and minus a few show car features, this car is going all the way to production. Could it be what the US needed to be convinced of sporty hatches? We don’t know, but here in Europe at what will be a higher price point, we can see this really taking off.
What’s more, Mercedes got serious about its presence in Shanghai and showed off not only this world debut, but also the entire recent range including the C-Class restyling, and the new CLS and SLK models. Do we need to mention again just how important a love affair is right now with the Chinese car market for European car manufacturers? If things go according to plan, China will be Mercedes’ number one market by 2015.
The Concept A Class has a new four-cylinder, 2.0-litre engine with direct injection producing 210 hp. A new seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox debuts as does the MFA front-wheel drive architecture. The lower end of the Mercedes line-up will now get Brake Assist and Collision Prevention Assist, set to appear on the next A-Class and B-Class models.
Mercedes Concept A Class: new pics
Mercedes A-Class first videos
The new Mercedes A-Class, anticipated in these videos of the Mercedes Concept A, has nothing in common with the compact MPV it will replace. In fact, the only way to describe it is revolutionary - for the Mercedes brand - and we like what we see! While the current A-Class is all about adaptability and practicality, the new one will be dynamic, sporty and seductive (dare we say it).
The Concept A Class is only the first of a new generation of Mercedes cars that will be built on the MFA platform - Mercedes Front-drive Architecture. In the future we will also see a new B-Class, a small SUV and a sedan-coupé, which should be a smaller version of the CLS.
As we saw in the A-Class pics yesterday, the new concept model has very swoopy lines and inspiring the design for Gorden Wagener were the wind and waves. We’d say the star-studded grille also comes from the inspiration mentioned in the video, but we doubt it will make it to production. More after the jump.
Mercedes A-Class Concept revealed
Could Mercedes be onto a winner with its Concept A? The model previews some of what we will see on the 2012 Mercedes A-Class and so far, we like it. The fact that we never liked the original A-Class probably helps too, but Mercedes has radically redesigned the model from a compact, city MPV into a coupé-like hatch.
The Mercedes Concept A will be revealed at the Shanghai Motor Show and will appear soon after at the 2011 New York Auto Show, too. You can check out all the design details in the pics, and while many probably won’t make it to production, including the star-studded grille, it’s a faithful representation of this totally revamped model.
So far, the Mercedes A-Class concept gets a four-cylinder, two-litre turbo engine with dual clutch shift designed specifically for the front-wheel drive, transverse-engined model. The engine is a direct-injected unit and in the 2.0 version at this stage produces 210 hp. The new clutch is part of a renewed BlueEfficiency package which should keep fuel consumption and emissions down.
Mercedes Concept A: first pics of the new A-Class
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