What's Wrong With This Picture: A-Class Of Its Own Edition

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

We’ve seen the next-generation of front–drive Mercedes hatchbacks in both heavily-camo’d and concept forms, but now thanks to automobilemagazine.fr [via Auto Motor und Sport], we have what appears to be the first look at a production version of the Mercedes A-Class. From some angles it looks fantastic… while from others, it reminds a little too much of a Subaru Impreza. Either way, Americans won’t have to sweat the details when it comes to this bodystyle, as we will be receiving this chassis only in Coupe, Sedan and CUV format. Still, this vehicle will be of major importance to the Benz brand in nearly every other market around the world. Plus, it’s the first time Daimler has entered into direct competition with Audi’s A3 in the Compact class. And all told, Mercedes seems to have done a fairly effective job at transmitting its rear-drive-oriented design language into the front-drive hatch segment.


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • MarcKyle64 MarcKyle64 on May 11, 2011

    Looks at link. "Is that the new Hyundai Accent hatch? I thought they weren't doing a hatchback." Clicks on link. "Nope, not what I thought."

  • Marko Marko on May 11, 2011

    Don't get me wrong, it's a nice-looking car by itself, but nothing about it really says "Mercedes". You could tell me it's the next BMW 1 series or - gasp! - Hyundai Elantra Touring, and I would agree without thinking about it much. Reminds me of the way I felt about the pre-facelift Jaguar XF - it looked decent, but it didn't look like a Jaguar. I think Buick took some inspiration from the XF for the Regal/Lacrosse, though, and the design works much better in the context of a Buick.

  • Hcwd Hcwd on May 12, 2011

    I can't quite pick why, but there is something seriously wrong here. Part of it is just how out of proportion the front end seems compared to the rest of the car, or just how abrupt the stumpy rear end is. It's almost as though Mercedes has taken the new CLS and tried to recycle the design into a hatchback. Same nose, same door-line, one-tenth the beauty.

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