Mercedes-Benz cars for Rs. 15 lakh

Mercedes is planning to bring cars which are based on its new front-wheel-drive platform to the Indian auto market. The present crop includes the A- and B-class hatchbacks which make use of a very expensive floor construction. On the other hand, the new platform will be comparatively cheaper and would also have a big range of cars. It is speculated that these cars will have their mother plant in Hungary. In fact, just like Suzuki, Mercedes will also make use of cheaper labour rates for making its products more cost effective. But on the other hand, the designers and engineers of Mercedes emphasize that this would not be done at the cost of Mercedes-Benz build quality for which they have struggled so hard and have got it back recently. The new Mercedes range will have everything, for example, the regular hatches as the A- and B-class, the saloons little smaller than the C-class, mini-SUVs and also the sports cars. Cars from this platform called MFA (Mercedes Frontwheel drive Architecture) would be the first to have been designed with alternative powertrains from the word go.

The conventional motors will be lying across under the hood. The car will use DSG automatics to help support and utilise the energy manufactured by these engines in an efficient manner. The petrol direct-injection CGI motors will have a lean-burn stage if the quality of fuel improves in India by the time Mercedes launches these cars. The CGI motors having a lean burn stage will provide an increase of 25 percent in the fuel economy. This will be nearly better than what the hybrids can manage at present. Certainly, the lean-burn CGI plus hybrid drive is likely to happen. Dr. Thomas Weber, Mercedes chief engineer, commented that hybrid drives can be added on to the car at a later phase also, even after years of buying of a car.

It is being expected that the MFA cars will have most of their styling points from the F-800 Style concept. The grille at the centre looks quite alike to that on the AMG SLS sports car. The body will have organic shapes along with styling cues.

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