Back in March we brought you details and spy photos of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz B-Class AMG, and today we’ve got photos of yet another 2012 B-Class, this time in taxi form. The future generation B-Class was spied testing outside Mercedes’ test and engineering facility in Germany, clad in full camouflage, false body panelling and a roof taxi sign. Why exactly was their a yellow taxi sign on a testing vehicle? It may be a joke… it may be aerodynamics testing… or they may be offering taxi rides to help cover rising R&D costs. Your guess is as good as ours.
Commenting on the upcoming changes to their compact lineup, Dr. Joachim Schmidt, head of sales and marketing at Mercedes-Benz, has noted: “In the next couple of years, we will launch additional cars where we don’t currently have predecessors. Our current A-Class and B-Class will be replaced by a new platform for four totally different cars defining new segments for Mercedes.” Schmidt went on to state that “If you want young customers, you need to have a brand that is sexy and sporty. The reason we didn’t get this customer before was, in my opinion, not a brand issue, but a product issue.”
Read Article