Mercedes Renews Push Into Compact Car Market

Landing in European showrooms this fall, the B-class is the first pillarstrategy to boost Mercedes compact car sales after middling results so far. The car maker hasstruggled to generate much of a profitTheir boxy designs have failed to lure younger car buyers as BMW's Mini and other luxury rivals have.But while big sedans and sporty roadsters drive luxury car makers' profits, Mercedes wantsvehicles to introduce younger drivers to the brand. The average age of a Mercedes driver is53, four years older than their BMW and Audi counterparts, according to researcher Associates.motor show, including new mini Up and

Landing in European showrooms this fall, the B-class is the first pillarstrategy to boost Mercedes compact car sales after middling results so far. The car maker hasstruggled to generate much of a profitTheir boxy designs have failed to lure younger car buyers as BMW's Mini and other luxury rivals have.But while big sedans and sporty roadsters drive luxury car makers' profits, Mercedes wantsvehicles to introduce younger drivers to the brand. The average age of a Mercedes driver is53, four years older than their BMW and Audi
 counterparts, according to researcher Associates.Fiat SpA's refreshened Panda hatchback
Younger buyers not only broaden the customer base, they often trade up eventually to more expensive models, BMW's sales chief, who points out that more than 70% of 1-series drivers are new to the Bavarian luxury car maker.Small cars will be essential to meeting tougher emission standards coming in Europe and theWithout small cars it becomes very tough, especially for the German luxury makerswhose bigger, high-octane car sales drive up their fleet-average emissionsan analystAutomotive in LondonTo boost its small-car profile, Mercedes plans a sportier version of its A-class hatchback nextyear, followed by a small coupe, a compact sports utility vehicle and another, still undisclosedcompact model. It has poured $1.9 billion into a new Hungarian plant and expanded capacity in Germany to build the cars.For the first time,it will sell at least one of the small cars in the U.S. by 2013, possibly theB-class, Mercedes executives That could prove tough, industry watchers say. Apart fromBMW's Mini, few small premium cars have resonated with American drivers, who tend to equate luxury with size. BMW, which sells its compact 1-series in convertible and coupe models in thesold just 13,132 of them in the last year, while Audi sold fewer than 6,558 of its rival A3.Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche acknowledged the car could be a tricky sell. "There is perhaps in the a somewhat smaller openness to premium compact cars," he though pointing to Mini's relatively strongsales as evidence of the potential. But insists Joachimdealers tell us the time is ripeTo broaden its small-car appeal, Mercedes has loaded the more sleekly designed B-Class with