(February 10, 2022) So much for an affordable entry-level Mercedes-Benz for the masses. Mercedes, which introduced the A-Class sedan in 2019 at a $30,000 price pointas a gateway to the brand for younger buyers, has announced that the A-Class would be dropped from the U.S. lineup after 2022, Automotive News reported today.
   

   


Mercedes cited weak consumer demand for cars and shifting corporate priorities a reasons for the car's demise.

"It launched as the market was continuing to shift to crossovers and SUVs," Jeff Schuster, president of global forecasting at LMC Automotive, told Automotive News. "From the start, it was fighting an uphill battle."

U.S. sales of the A-Class peaked at 17,641 when it launched in 2019. Mercedes-Benz delivered 8,108 A-Class vehicles last year, down 47 percent from 2020.

The A-Class sedan is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine producing 188 hp and 221 pound-feet of torque. A more powerful AMG variant — the A35 — went on sale in 2020.

Despite the entry-level price, the A-Class launched with a new infotainment system and advanced driver-assistance technologies to appeal to younger customers. The A-Class introduced the Mercedes-Benz User Experience multimedia system featuring improved speech recognition capabilities, artificial intelligence and predictive learning abilities.

Source: Automotive News