(October 25, 2017) The A-Class from Mercedes-Benz celebrates its 20-year anniversary this month. On Oct. 18, 1997, in Rastatt, Germany, a customer took possession of one for the very first time. More than three million others followed.

As a result, the model not only established the segment of compact cars at Mercedes-Benz, but also began a real success story. Since then, 5,555,555 customers chose to buy an A-Class, B-Class, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake or GLA.

While the first generations were popular with buyers mainly due to their functionality, the new generation of the family of compact cars launched in 2011 impressed above all with its sporty design.



This played a significant role in changing the image of Mercedes-Benz. The buyers of a compact car from the Stuttgart-based brand have become younger. Today, European A-Class drivers are 13 years younger on average, than they were in 2011.

In China, one out of three customers last year was under the age of 30.

In the future, Mercedes-Benz will have eight models in the compact car segment. A first look ahead to this was provided by Mercedes-Benz this year when the Concept A Sedan show car was presented at the Shanghai Auto Show in April. What e-mobility in the compact car segment could look like was demonstrated by Mercedes-Benz at this year’s International Motor Show in Frankfurt with the Concept EQA.