Well I guess that's one way to regain the global "luxury" car sales crown from BMW and Audi.

http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-new...-ar150038.html

Back in 2007 Daimler, Renault and Nissan signed an agreement that will bring new models and technologies to all the three companies. For Daimler, this partnership will bring a new model placed under the current A-Class that is rumored to be called the X-Class.

The new X-Class will be launched in 2018 and will be built on the next-generation Renault Clio platform as a competitor for BMW’s front-wheel-drive vehicles.

Mercedes will try to keep the price as low as possible - somewhere in the €20,000 area ( around $26,000 at the current exchange rates) and for this the new X-Class will be heavily influenced by Renault and Nissan models, but it will still offer the minimum of luxury offered by the Mercedes models.

Under the hood, the upcoming X-Class will get a new 1-liter three-cylinder and a 1.5-liter four-cylinder, while a hybrid or an electric version and a double-clutch gearbox are out of the question.

The X-Class will be offered in both sedan and crossover variants and Mercedes expects to sell around 100,000 to 150,000 units annually.

 

It makes sense as the next c-class will be 3 inches longer in wheel base to make room for the samller but bigger than before CLA and they need another smaller model to slot under it.

 

Sounds like a competitor for the Buick Encore.

 

An even more cheap MBZ?? Kind of defeats the purpose of high quality and badge exclusivity and dilutes the brand IMO

 

^ true, but they dont care so much about that in europe, plus this would never make it to our shores.

 

I don't understand this, wouldn't the A class be the smaller car that is needed to be slotted under the C class since it has gotten bigger now?

I agree with hoovey that this is just necessary and dilutes the brand.

 

Yes agreed, the race to the bottom continues until they've completely spent all brand cache. Same with BMW. Way to completely exhaust the brand equity that these companies spent decades cultivating.

 

Clio is Yaris sized... so basically MB Yaris

 

Are you guys aware that MB is seen differently in Europe? The maker of one of europe's most prolific taxi cabs doesn't have to worry about cachet like they do here.

 

Next step smaller than the C-Class is the B-Class (available here in Canada but not in the USA); smaller than the B-Class is the A-Class. MB already has something smaller than the A-Class and that is the 2-seat smart fortwo. Will this be something between the smart and the A-Class? Will this be the new 4-seater smart (i.e. forfour) which has already been seen testing under camouflage?