Mercedes goes small, launches A Class car at₹21.9 lakh

Taking the battle to the small car space, German luxury car major Mercedes-Benz on Thursday launched the all-new A Class in the compact segment at an introductory price of ₹22.73 lakh for the petrol variant and ₹21.93 lakh for diesel, ex-showroom Mumbai.

A Class is globally pitted against BMW1 Series, Audi A3, Lexus IS and Volvo's V40. Incidentally, Volvo too is seeing an opportunity in this segment as it launches V40 in India in mid-June.

Luxury carmakers including Mercedes, BMW and Audi, who have focussed on the large sedan market in India so far, are now eyeing hatchback as they look for new customer segments to drive volume amid intense competition among them.

Mercedes Benz, which slipped to the third position in the Indian luxury car segment after BMW and Audi overtook it, launched the A Class as part of the product offensive to regain the pole position.

"Our new generation cars that include A Class, B Class, CLA and GLA will account for 40% of our sales by 2020," said Eberhard Kern, managing director & CEO, Mercedes Benz India.

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