Mercedes-Benz A-Class launching on 30th May

Mercedes seems all set to launch its luxury hatch in India soon. The A-Class will follow soon after the launch of the GL and could end up hitting showrooms as early as May-end. The Mercedes A-Class has been completely redesigned for 2013 and lets go of its older one-box form for a sportier two-box design. The design theme itself borrows heavily from the flagship SLS AMG and is the precursor to the visual treatment of Mercedes’ cars to come.

The long hood and the soft nose are equally complemented by the very aerodynamic styling cues that feature prominent cuts and creases all along the profile. The interiors too, are more shrunk down typical Mercedes rather than being hatchback trying to be high class, which means that the A-Class, despite being small in size will still fulfill every requirement that you’d expect from a car that bears the three-pointed star logo.

Mercedes-Benz sells the A-Class in four forms in Europe – the A250, A 220 CDI as well as the A180 CGI and A180 CDI. While we’d love the higher-performance A250 to make it to our shores, what India should be getting is the A180 CDI and while that car comes mated to a choice between a 6-speed manual transmission and a 7G-DCT, we’ll most likely be handed over the 7-speed automatic version as standard. Nonetheless, this should be a car that highly appeals to the young and affluent class of India owing to not just its brand image but also its rather aggressive styling. Expect the A-Class to be priced just a shade under Rs 20 lakh ex-showroom.