Mercedes B Class 180 CDI make its way to India for INR 22.6 lakhs

Merc B-Class

Mercedes-Benz has launched the diesel variant of B-class in Mumbai. The 'Luxury Tourer' made its debut last year with the petrol variant and now the diesel variant B180 CDI

The ongoing rivalry between the luxury carmakers is quite entertaining with everyone bringing in their A-game  and with this launch the fight has just got intensified. Following this launch Audi is going to launch their performance products S6 and RS5 by tomorrow.

Merc B-Class three quarters

Mercedes is adopting a rather contradictory strategy of selling their products in India. The brand known for luxurious and speedy sedans and SUVs has opted for   'Hatchback' as the selling mantra for India in order to reach to wider spectrum of customers.

While the B-class's younger sibling A-class making its debut last year in both diesel and petrol variants, the B-class diesel is launched with an interesting price. The starting price is Rs. 22.6 lakhs (ex-showroom: Mumbai) which is lower than the petrol variant. Sounds fascinating doesn't it! But in order to reduce the price the German carmakers has sacrificed some of its features found in petrol variant. They have dumped the Park Assist and the reversing camera. This one also misses out on electronic adjustment for the passenger seat and a sunroof. Will the Indians miss these features? We assume not, we will be more elated owning a 'Three Pointed Star' badge car with such an interesting price.

Lets talk about the engine specs in B-class. Mercedes has plumped B-class with a 2.2 liter four cylinder engine which has been detuned to produce 109bhp at 3,200rpm and 25.5kgm of torque from 1,400-2,800rpm. A 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox sends the power to the front wheels. The top speed is rated at 190km/h.The same engine powers the C Class and E Class, though they are in a higher state of tune in the sedans.
Mercedes is claiming a fuel efficiency of 18.98 km/l. (Not ARAI approved)

      
The B180 CDI will be available in Jupiter Red, Cirrus White, Polar Silver, Monolith Grey are the available colors.

So you see the Merc lovers are spoiled for choice between the more eye-catching stylish A-class or a more practical B-class. 

With pricing the diesel variant lower than the petrol one, Mercedes are likely to set a new trend in Indian automotive industry.

Bosch, Daimler, BMW executives see a window of hope for self-driving cars

With its six eyes (cameras) and six ears (radar sensors), the new Mercedes S class can see and hear enough to drive itself at speeds up to 60kph (37mph). Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche says the S class “marks the start of the era of partially autonomous driving.”

The European Giants of automotive industry (Daimler, BMW) are cogent about the future of automated driving but they say it will take time for regulations to catch up with technology. They also say that no one wants to remove the fun of being behind the wheel.

According to the Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche the main aim is to remove the boring bits of driving like driving in traffic while still retaining the fun bits of the driving. "We will never automate the cool part of driving … the uncool part, though, we can do without," he said during the Mercedes S-Class launch.

Wolf-Henning Scheider, who oversees Robert Bosch's chassis systems unit was also heard echoing same views. He said to have fully automatic driving, the car needs redundant sensors. "We need at least two sensors to measure the same thing and then check between them. And there is certainly still some development necessary to have both in place; they are not ready."

Another obstacle to overcome is making sure the system works flawlessly even when rain, snow or other elements reduce the car's ability to see and hear. Scheider said that by using cloud computing, car-to-car infrastructure and different sensor principles, it is possible to overcome the hurdles created by weather and other factors. "But there are many other questions to be answered to bring a fully automatic driving car on the road," he added.

BMW M has announced the end of production for the 4th gen BMW M3 Coupe at its Regensburg plant today. 

BMW sales boss Ian Robertson said that the technology available today is "more than capable" to drive the car in many situations but regulation requires that drivers keep their hands on the wheel. "We're in phase where technology has overtaken regulation, and the question is how quickly do the two align," he said in an interview.

Government regulators are being cautious. A 2011 EU study on autonomous driving concluded that a number of key questions still need to be answered, such as:

• What effect does higher automation in the vehicle have on the driver?

• How to improve the driver interface without over loading them with information?

• How to achieve standardization for automated vehicle control and interface design without legislation?

• How to improve driver training for automated systems?

• Should the EU continue to allow a gradual migration of skill or introduce some form of universal training?

• How to integrate automated vehicles with other road users?

• Will other road users also require training?

But many of the countries including U.S. are asking the automotive giants like Audi, Toyota to keep the self driving technologies to an experimental basis only as this system still cant be relied on a day to day commuting life.

This actions hints that the cars with self driving capabilities will still not be used in the coming years even though  the tech giant Google Inc., which is also working on the technology -- have suggested that fully self-driving cars may be as little as five years away from the market.

2014 Mercedes-Benz GLA class spotted

2014 Merc GLA class spied shots credits: motorauthority.com 

Here are the spied shots of the  Mercedes-Benz GLA class compact crossover.

A compact crossover by Mercedes made its debut in Shanghai Auto Show as a concept in 2013.
The compact SUV is based on MFA platform currently found in the latest A-class and B-class. The GLA class is aggressively styled,  from the hood’s SLK-inspired power domes to the CLS-like drooping shoulder line, emphasizing width and avoiding slabby-sided styling.

The car is not heavily camouflaged bringing in notice that the model must be the final version for production. Much of its body is undisguised and the design seems to be inspired by Merc A-class European version.

2014 Merc GLA class spied shots credits: motorauthority.com

The engine of  2014 Mercedes GLA-Class range will also remain identical and will be based on a pair of Renault 1.6L petrol engine with 120 hp and 154 hp and Mercedes’ 2.0L petrol unit with 208 hp. The offer would later have to find a sports version of the AMG 2.0L twin-turbo engine and about 330 HP. For fans of diesel, there are 1.8L engine with 108 HP and 134 HP and 2.2L engine with 168 HP. Power will be transmitted to the front wheels, or optional all-wheel drive, through the choice of six-speed manual and seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. Mercedes promises to offer electronics  in order to attract more younger customers. 

The GLA class will be introduced to compete with vehicles like the Audi Q3, BMW X1 and Range Rover Evoque. The production version is likely to be introduced in the Los Angeles Auto Show, and to be launched in the earlier half of 2014.

Source: motorauthority.com