The production of A- and B-class Mercedes will be discontinued

According to the report of the German business newspaper citing insiders, the Mercedes-Benz group - previously known as Daimler - has decided to narrow its range of mid-range cars.

They decided to keep the CLA Coupé, CLA Shooting Brake, GLA and GLB model families, while the A- and B-classes will be phased out within three to four years. The head of the German vehicle manufacturing group, Ola Källenius, already announced in May that they would narrow down the mid-range range and focus on the luxury category, which is the "core" of the brand.

There was no discussion about the liquidation of Class B. Sales have been falling short of targets for years, and - as one of Handelsblatt's sources put it - the minivan segment is already "dead".

However, the plan to end the A-Class and the strategy to focus on the most expensive cars and lower sales numbers instead of volume has been criticized by many.

"The world of the rich and beautiful seems exciting at first glance and promises fabulous returns", but narrowing the product range, "shrinking" is very risky - one of the most respected German sector analysts, Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, automotive industry at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) told the newspaper head of his research institute (Center Automotive Research - CAR).

Vehicles are equipped with increasingly powerful computers, operating systems, and long-range batteries, and economies of scale are more important than ever before, explained the expert, pointing out that software only needs to be developed once and can be duplicated at "practically zero cost."

Manufacturers focusing on high volume, i.e. a high number of products sold, will benefit from this, but Mercedes "would significantly lose its cost advantages", said the analyst.

According to Ola Källenius, however, Mercedes-Benz should not compete with companies that mass produce cars. The specialist who has been leading the company since 2019 has revised the objective of his predecessor, Dieter Zetsche, that three million cars should be sold annually. The new goal is 2.5 million per year, with a different product mix.
According to the plans, sales of compact cars will remain at around 570,000 per year, while sales in the upper middle category (C-class, EQC, E-class) will be significantly increased, and sales of the most expensive model families (EQS, Maybach, AMG) will increase by orders of magnitude, by 60 percent. - wrote Handelsblatt.

They pointed out that the discontinuation of the A-Class represents a turning point, as this model series is Mercedes-Benz's best-selling product in Europe and, alongside the Volkswagen Golf, Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus, it is the most popular compact car on the continent.

However, based on the new strategy, it is necessary to produce so-called world cars, that is, cars that are successful in all major markets, in addition to Europe, the United States and China. The A-class, on the other hand, is "too European", not popular enough elsewhere, moreover, it is not profitable enough, and the growth prospects are not good, since "half the world drives SUVs", wrote Handelsblatt.

(Source: autokalauz.co.hu; MTI | Image: pixabay.com)