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A 50 per cent lift in sales and a new generation of Mercedes-Benz buyers will be the return on investment for the MFA platform. Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman David McCarthy says the five vehicles that will ride on the MFA architecture will account for at least 6000 sales a year.
The company now sells around 12,000 passenger cars annually. "I'm being conservative but, when all the models are on line, we should do around 6000 more cars a year," he says. "The A and B-Class will be the bulk of that, of course."
Globally, the MFA-derived cars are expected to drive most of the 27 per cent growth in sales to 1.6 million vehicles Mercedes is aiming for by 2015.
The just-launched B-Class is a compact family car with a $38,950 starting price. It will be joined by the sportier-styled A-Class expected to start arou, a four-door coupe to be known as the CLA, a compact SUV and a yet-to-be announced model that Mercedes Australia managing director Horst von Sanden says could be a convertible or small sedan.
Concept versions of the coupe will be shown at next month's Beijing and New York motor shows. "Small vehicles are the big mover globally so our timing is good," von Sanden says. "It is an entry point for Mercedes and will give us a younger buyer profile."
The B-Class also highlights the convergence of prestige and practical buyers. Audi and BMW also have quality vehicles for around $40,000 and the European trio are succeeding in luring some buyers away from Asian products.
The theory is those new prestige buyers will be so impressed by their compact vehicle that they'll remain loyal to the brand and progressively move to bigger, more expensive vehicles.
These younger buyers are putting a premium on connectivity, which is why all carmakers are designing their vehicles as a mobile extension of the "always on" world where smart phone and internet connectivity is taken for granted.
In Mercedes' case, the A-Class previewed at this month's Geneva Motor Show is designed to integrate with an iPhone and piggy back on the phone's apps and standard functions. Mercedes development head Dr Thomas Weber dubbed the sleek-looking compact an "iPhone on wheels".
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