New Mercedes-Benz B-Class revealed

And it's Mercedes-Benz's first salvo in staying at the top of the premium car class.

The interior has been overhauled and now looks as good as any car wearing a Mercedes badge, while the price of the entry B180 has been set at $38,950 for the seven-speed automatic.

All models come with an idle stop/start function, active park assist where the car will steer itself into parallel parking bays, an electric park brake, xenon headlamps and a suite of new safety features including a driver fatigue warning system, a collision prevention warning system backed by "pre-safe"automated braking to reduce the severity of the impact, and blind spot and lane-keeping warning systems.

A 14.7cm screen mounted at the top of the dash looks like a scaled-down iPad with piano black finish and chrome highlights and provides visual info for the audio system and in-car software. The six-CD sound system also has iPod, USB and auxiliary integration and Bluetooth audio streaming.

The three-model range won't arrive in dealerships until April and managing director Horst von Sanden admits there will be a "month or two" where customers won't be able to buy the compact car. That gap may cost the B-Class its title as the most popular premium small car but it's a position Benz is happy to be in.

"The current model is still selling well and we won't have stock in March," von Sanden says. "You don't want to be trying to sell the two cars side by side . discounting the earlier generation upsets dealers and customers and damages the brand. We were surprised at last year's sales (Benz shipped 2211 vehicles) which were better than the year before and shows how this segment is growing."

The new cars will come with a choice of two 1.6-litre turbo petrol four-cylinder engines generating 90kW/200Nm and 115kW/250Nm in the B180 and B200 respectively, along with a 1.8-litre turbodiesel with 100kW/300Nm. Both petrol engines are rated at 6.1 litres/100km, while the oilburner uses 4.7 litres/100km.

The base model has been the volume seller for Benz to date with 52 per cent of B-Class sales. Prices for the B200 and B200 CDI will be announced closer to launch.

B180
Engine: 1.6-litre turbo direct-injection four-cylinder, 90kW/200Nm
Thirst: 6.1 litres/100km, 141g/km CO2

B200
Engine: 1.6-litre turbo direct-injection four-cylinder, 115kW/250Nm
Thirst: 6.1 litres/100km, 141g/km CO2

B200 CDI
Engine: 1.8-litre burbo direct injection diesel four-cylinder, 100kW/300Nm
Thirst: 4.7 litres/100km, 122g/km CO2.

A $4000 price cut and more standard kit headline the new Mercedes ML-Class. Satellite navigation, parallel-parking software and a reversing camera are now standard across the range, which will progressively arrive in dealerships in April. The first entry will be the ML 250 BlueTec at $81,400. Mercedes communications spokesman Jerry Stamoulis says the price cut, along with the extra gear, equates to around $10,000 in better value.

"This is a Euro 6-compliant engine and is using 6.4 litres of diesel every 100km (down from 9.6 on the current model) - there aren't many diesel sedans on the road that can match that," he says of the big SUV.

The ML range is now fitted with an electric park brake, 19-inch wheels and the Comand multimedia system that includes audio streaming, a 10GB music hard drive and internet browser. Safety gear includes a bonnet that pops up to minimise damage to pedestrians, a driver fatigue warning system, and the Pre-Safe automatic braking to minimise collision severity.

The 2.2-litre twin-turbo direct-injection diesel is good for 150kW/500Nm in the ML250 and the 93 litre fuel tank gives a theoretical range of more than 1400km.

The big SUV also picks up electric power steering, an optional off-road package and an "active curve" system that compensates for body roll during cornering. The bigger ML350 BlueTec and range-topping ML63 AMG are due in Australia in May and will be followed by the ML350 and ML500 in the third quarter of this year.

ML 250 Bluetec
Engine: 2.2-litre twin-turbo direct injection diesel, 150kW/500Nm
Thirst: 6.4 litres/100km, 168g/km CO2.