Mercedes-Benz B180 2015 News

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced its latest round of national safety recalls, with models from Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Citroen, Ram and Aston Martin affected.

Mercedes-Benz could be working on its own answer to the electric BMW i3, according to a new report. Speaking with Reuters, Daimler CFO Bodo Uebber said the German giant will increase its focus on small cars, in a bid to lower the average age of its buyers.Uebber also said that Mercedes “could use more” involvement with Tesla -- the US electric car brand founded by Elon Musk – in which the German brand has held a stake since 2009.The first fruit of this technological alliance will be the B-Class Electric Drive, which will use a Tesla-supplied motor and battery system when it goes on sale internationally next year.While the B-Class is smaller than Mercedes’ conventional C, E and S class models, the Uebber’s words point to the possibility of electric variants of the smaller-again A-Class or CLA models, to sit above electric versions of the upcoming 2015 Smart Fortwo.This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn