In an interview with Reuters, a top Mercedes official seemed to imply Mercedes will not bring its B-Class compact people mover to the United States. “In the U.S., Mercedes is perceived as a luxury car,” Mercedes Car Group sales and marketing chief Klaus Maier told the news agency at the Paris Motor Show. Maier said moving further down market might dilute the brand.
“You have to consider very carefully whether the investment to introduce the B-Class would pay off,” he said. Maier suggested the C-Class would remain the automaker’s entry-level offering.
In August and September, we brought you spy photos of two B-Class hatches in testing in Colorado near a Mercedes facility there. Reports over the summer had suggested the car would go on sale some time in 2007. Has Mercedes again shelved plans for the B-Class in America?
