Pics & Report : Mercedes B-Class unveiled @ Buddh

[miharbe]

IMHO this needs to slot significantly below the C Class pricing (~ 20 lacs) and probably needs to be the cheapest vehicle amongst the 3 premium brands else there might just be a case where people go in to check out the B Class and end up buying the C because of the marginal increase in pricing which may not be much for someone who is already willing to spend so much on a car (much like what happened with the Jazz and the City for a very long time)

On a side note i think the interiors look fabulous, just love the way the AC vents, the Entertainment/Infotainment system looks and then there are thos gorgeous black seats

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

Its such an inherent contradiction - Sports Tourer with petrol only engines!

What is the rationale behind the now what may seem as hasty "petrol" only launch that may not do much to the sales figures? Can the petrol sustain any momentum and build a clientele for the offering until late-2013 when the Diesel is introduced? Suddenly this doesn't seem much of answer from MB to any of the challenges by Audi or BMW. Did any of these questions get asked or answered during the event?

Why not a Petrol Sports Tourer? What is the contradiction there?
Personally, I feel this is a good move to get the market get used to the B, rather than wait until 2013 and launch when the diesel arrives – especially since this is something of a novelty to our market.

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by S2!!!

As a brand MB will find takers at 25L but will find volumes at 15-18L as there are a lot of people out there (including me) who wish to purchase a genuine premium hatchback

Remember that the A-class will see Indian light in a few years from now, and being the entry model in Mercedes' universal lineup, will be positioned/priced below the B-class. Not sure if that would have allowed Mercedes to price the B-class any lower than Rs 25 lakhs, to allow room for the A-class.

Coupled with that disastrous low GC, I really doubt this car is going to do much for MB.

Like I've mentioned, the test cars were LHD imports with 18-inch wheels meant for the European market. The India-launch models would be expected to have higher GC.

Originally Posted by diffsoft

What I am wondering is, if they are so generous to absorb duty differential between CBU and CKD, why not bring the diesel variant here.

I think they are 2 separate things. Like I've mentioned, the diesel's staggered availability was described as being due to production constraints and subsequent rationing across markets from the German plant where the B-class is manufactured. India gets its diesel-turn in late-2013

Was there an AT variant available in the event, at least as a display. I remember reading that the AT does not have a conventional gear level.

The interiors look top-notch, and more importantly quite young.

Nope. Only the manual. The autobox will get paddle-shifts.

Interiors are the B-class' biggest USP. Quality, simplicity and spacious.

[scopriobharath]

This is a nice product. I am sure it WILL eat into the shares of Q3 and X1. In fact for a couple of lacs more than a TFORT, one can get a Merc brand. At least the brand value @ 30 lacs appeals to him.

Bring it on Merc !! and you already have volumes in india.

[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Why not a Petrol Sports Tourer? What is the contradiction there?
Personally, I feel this is a good move to get the market get used to the B, rather than wait until 2013 and launch when the diesel arrives – especially since this is something of a novelty to our market.

By contradiction i mean our increasing obsession with driving diesels. Will it do sufficient sales for the market to get used to it is exactly my question? A good car gets written off sometimes cause it just isn't available with the right options.

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

This is a nice product. I am sure it WILL eat into the shares of Q3 and X1. In fact for a couple of lacs more than a TFORT, one can get a Merc brand. At least the brand value @ 30 lacs appeals to him.

Bring it on Merc !! and you already have volumes in india.

That's why I had already changed my "what car you own" part in my profile. They already have a potential buyer, but only confusion that remains is that should I wait for the A or should I go for the B. For someone like me who is hell bent to buy only a Mercedes, if not don't buy at all(copied from Merc's motto), such a entry level merc, is surely a welcome sign.

The reason for them to delay the diesel is, as somebody pointed out rightly here before, that to study the market for MUV's in India, which is quite new to us. Remember the Ertiga(cheaper version), Aria(desi equivalent of Merc well, I love the Aria personally!) and now this. I have purposefully left out Innova, Xylo out of topic. In my opinion, the big brother R class will be a good comparison for Innova and Xylo in terms of local competition, not to mention the price tag and the Merc bells and whistles that R has.

[chennai-indian]

My prediction - B Class will be a flop. Indian's are simply not ready to pay 25 lakh + for something which looks like a souped up hatch. There is no "prestige" factor you see. Moreover it a petrol to boot.

If they had priced it below 20L, there would have been some takers.

[AyAn!]

Hats off to Mercedes-Benz for testing the waters. I think this car makes perfect sense as an alternative to the C class. With a little higher GC and higher profile tires, it would do justice to the "Sports Tourer" tag pretty much. All with respect to the Indian context.

[manson]

I happened to see the B class parked last weekend at Hard Rock Cafe, and I for one like the overall design. I really doubt Mercedes seeing any significant volumes as such, especially without the diesel motor but it mostly would start a new trend and hopefully competitors will soon follow suite.

[CarSpotter]

Mercedes Benz is revolutionizing India Auto scene by unveiling it’s yet to be launched vehicle, THE NEW B-CLASS. It’s said that, less people prefer B-class products, however, simply look at this: it’s just the best of its class which makes the B-class a true multi-talented vehicle of the compact class.

[diffsoft]

I was enamored enough of the B Class to go to Sundaram Motors and see the display car (same as the Left Hand Drive on the BIC covered here). I was accompanied by androdev who was kind enough to arrange the showroom folks to give me a run-down. There were no test drives other than imagined ones.

For background, while there's no one car that meets all my travel needs, for now, I have decided to optimize the car to meet all my city needs than long outstation highway drives with family or friends (while meeting some basics like space and comfort). I am also mostly a sedate driver preferring steady comfortable drives than to "push the pedal to the metal". I also want a diesel automatic.

With that in mind these are some of the aspects of the car that struck me -

Outstanding package on space

1. Ample rear leg space / head room, good backrest and a panoramic sunroof (only in sports version I am told). Thus rear passengers feel very free, comfortable and relaxed and not cramped and hunched.
   
2. The central hump in the rear remained but was much subdued unlike most other German makes. So it remains a really comfortable 4 seater but manageable 5 seater due to good width.
   
3. Right sized boot. The boot at 486 liters may not sound much, but the whole volume is freely available like an empty cube without constraints. So the boot looks large enough to pack for a long vacation for a family of 4.
   
4. A compact car at just 4.359m that I felt I can comfortably drive forward, reverse, make u-turns, v-turns, do tight parallel parking, make unobtrusive perpendicular parks and do twisties in the narrow winding lanes of our cities.
   
   In all these respects, which were important to me, the B class seemed distinctly better than what I saw / experienced in the X1 (except point 3 which is about the same for both).
   
   
5. Compact machine space (i.e the front of the car) releases more for the rest of the car and I liked that.

Clean underbody with no wires / car parts jutting out

One of the worries I had was damage to underbody driving on Indian city roads, water puddles formed in underpasses entering the sensitive areas of the car through the front and under. While those fears have not been completely laid to rest there is substantial comfort looking at the underbody.

Expected good ride quality

Multilink-suspension in the rear should provide for a very good ride quality.

Finally the car design is simple, clean, in proportion and does not attempt to accentuate any "attitude". I love that. While the AC vents look good I read elsewhere that they need to do better. I hope it does.

Other matters told to me by the SA (not covered what I read elsewhere):

1. The Indian model will have 2 versions - the base version will be stripped of electronics like electric seat adjust, no panoramic roof and projector headlamps, among others. The sports version will have in addition to the above bi-xenon headlamps.
   
2. Spare wheel will be alloy and 1 inch smaller.
   
3. It will carry a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty and extended by 1 year.

On reliability one can only hope that MB is learning from its past failure to provide even minimum levels of reliability. Or as Androdev and I often joke, "Create a reserve fund to provide for failures and add a zero to the right of your expected costs to get real costs of maintenance".

Below are some pics clicked with permission. Ignore time stamp in the pics.

Pic 1. Nice exterior. Note the compact front that frees up space.

Pic 2. Compact engine bay. Suprisingly the inside of the bonnet had no insulation cladding

Pic 3 Uncramped rear

Pic 4 A nice cuboid boot

Pic 5 A clean underbody

Pic 6 View of the driver controls

Pic 7 A deep glove box

Pic 8 The back. I liked that the bumper provides enough margin to back of the car


Cheers,

[octane_100]

A 'Sports-Tourer', they say eh!? I would have liked a beefed up estate (not a cross-over, mind you) instead of a meek looking monovolume MPVish kind of a vehicle. It looks every bit a people carrier to me!

[Shome]

Saw the B200 at Inorbit Vashi today. Good looking, quite big and spacious. My impressions and the info I gathered

Only 100 cars to be sold in India initially. Booking amount is 3 lacs and the ex-showrrom price is 26 Lacs for the sports trim. As mentioned in the review, only automatics with a dual clutch will be available in India. However, the SE from Shaman confirmed that he will not be able to confirm the colour which you might get (if you are amongst the few lucky ones who are chosen).

The GC will be more and the angle of approach will be steeper for the cars shipped to India. Alloys will be different from the ones on display. Will probably we 17 inchers and the spare will be an inch less. Eagle F1s were on display but the SE couldnt confirm what shoes the cars will have during delivery.

The front grill will also be different and will come in black and not silver

Diesels will be available from Feb 2013

Now about the car:

Like:
1. QUALITY interiors, simple yet ergonomical, very spacious for 4 passengers
2. Humongous boot
3. Nice chunky steering will steering mounted controls
4. 2 level glove box with oodles of space.
5. Rear bench is good and spacious for 2
6. Brilliant supporting seat with great under thigh support for a person my height (5'10")
7. A 12V socket for the rear benchers
8. Sun roof is hugh
9. 60:40 split in the rear

Dislike:

1. No request button on the handles
2. Manual seat adjustment!!! Come on...a 26 lac car should have electric adjustments if not a memory option
3. Rear bench is sufficent to comfortably sit 2. You introduce the third (even a slim individual) and you will be uncomfortable
4. The hump in the rear is high. Will definitely affect the comfort of the 3rd seater. Another reason why this is a strict 2 seater in the rear

[diffsoft]

@Shome - I was told that there will be 2 variants available for sale and the higher end version will have electric adjustments for seats.

Another sore point was the lack of center arm-rests in the rear.

How certain are you about the credibility of Feb 2013 launch for diesel? The reason I ask is that in a certain interview MB Sales Head said B-class diesel launch will be at the end of 2013. The Sales Advisor that I met in Sundaram Motors who was knowledgeable and matter of fact, told me that the dates have not been announced yet. She said it could be early 2013 or it may also be Aug 2013.

Cheers,

[Shome]

Originally Posted by diffsoft

@Shome - I was told that there will be 2 variants available for sale and the higher end version will have electric adjustments for seats.

Another sore point was the lack of center arm-rests in the rear.

How certain are you about the credibility of Feb 2013 launch for diesel? The reason I ask is that in a certain interview MB Sales Head said B-class diesel launch will be at the end of 2013. The Sales Advisor that I met in Sundaram Motors who was knowledgeable and matter of fact, told me that the dates have not been announced yet. She said it could be early 2013 or it may also be Aug 2013.

Cheers,

Well, the one I saw was the higher trim with the Sun roof and it did not have any electric adjustments for the seats. Also, the SA confirmed that it is not available. I dont know if the ones for India will have but I seriously doubt it. I dont think MB will make any drastic changes for India.

Yes, the center arm rest for the rear is amiss. I noticed that as well but missed out on mentioning.

The Sales advisor I spoke to was hugely optimistic and initially said that the Diesel will be available by the end of 2012. Further prodding made him change the date to Feb 13 but he did mention that that would be the latest.

I really wonder if the SAs will know and could be mentioning the dates based on hearsay or their own optimistic assumptions. Looking at all the dates being thrown around, I think it's better to wait for an official confirmation.