为了应对奥迪A3和宝马1系轿车，奔驰计划推出A级轿车。该车将与下一代A级车共享MFA平台，其定位高于CLA。这意味着该车将比CLA更大，价格也更高。而它的内部空间和行李箱容积将达到C级车水平。该车将提供右舵和左舵版本，标配前轮驱动，但可选装4Matic全轮驱动。此外，这款未命名轿车将为中国市场提供长轴距版本。这款车将搭载一系列三缸和四缸涡轮增压汽油和柴油引擎，顶级款A45 4Matic将搭载2.0升引擎，功率达到400马力。而插电混动版则搭载汽油引擎和一台电机及锂电池组，可具备零排放行驶能力。而入门级版则与现行版A级车一样搭载雷诺-日产提供的1.5升柴油引擎和1.6升汽油引擎。根据不同的引擎选择，可搭配六速手动或九速双离合变速器。该车将于2018年底发布，随后奔驰还将推出A级掀背车。
Mercedes A-Class Sedan reportedly due by late 2018
As if there weren’t enough sedans in Mercedes’ ever-growing portfolio, the company with the three-pointed star logo is allegedly cooking up a new one. Autocar has it on good authority the new entry is going to serve as a direct rival for the Audi A3 Sedan and the new China-only BMW 1 Series Sedan. It will share the updated MFA underpinnings with the next-gen A-Class and will be positioned above the CLA, meaning that it will be bigger and more expensive than the “four-door coupe,” but at the same time it will not step on the C-Class’ toes. That being said, it is believed passenger space and trunk capacity will almost match the C.
The report goes on to specify Mercedes is engineering the new sedan for both RHD and LHD markets and will sell it with a standard front-wheel drive layout along with an optional all-paw 4Matic arrangement. In addition, the yet unnamed sedan will be offered with a long wheelbase for the Chinese market where the company sells (and makes) the C-Class and E-Class L models.
An assortment of three- and four-cylinder turbocharged gasoline and diesel engines are going to be offered, with the range topper being a 2.0-liter with up to 400 horsepower in the A45 4Matic Sedan. A thrifty plug-in hybrid variant that will couple a gasoline engine with an electric motor and a lithium-ion battery will be available and is going to offer a yet unspecified zero-emissions range.
Entry-level versions of the model will be equipped with 1.5-liter diesel and 1.6-liter gasoline units borrowed from the Renault-Nissan alliance, as it’s the case with the current A-Class models. Depending on engine choice, the first-ever true A-Class Sedan is going to be available with a six-speed manual transmission and a dual-clutch, nine-speed automatic.
The sedan is expected to arrive towards the end of 2018, following the introduction of the new A-Class hatchback.