February 14, 2005
Geneva Motor Show
New Mercedes B-Class to make world premiere
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Stuttgart, Germany – Mercedes-Benz announced its new B-Class “Compact Sports Tourer”
will have its world premiere at the Geneva International Motor Show in March.
The B-Class blends different vehicle concepts into one versatile vehicle.
One of the major features of the B-Class is the sandwich concept developed by
Mercedes-Benz. Thanks to the space-saving arrangement of the engine and transmission
partly in front of and partly beneath the passenger cell, the new B-Class offers the
interior spaciousness of larger sedans and wagons despite its compact external
dimensions. The body has a length of 4270 millimetres, corresponding to the compact
car class. Inside, however, the new Mercedes model offers more than other cars of
comparable size in this segment in all comfort-related respects, e.g. shoulder-room,
legroom and headroom.
Occupants in the rear benefit from the long wheelbase (2778 millimetres); this
allows a distance between seats and generous kneeroom which almost matches that in
the S-Class.
Thanks to a height-adjustable load compartment floor, an asymmetrically divided,
folding and removable rear seat unit plus an optionally removable front passenger
seat, the B-Class is easily converted from a touring car to a practical van.
Depending on the number and position of the seats, the load capacity can be
increased from 544 to up to 2245 litres (with rear seats and front passenger seat
removed). This corresponds to the load capacity of large wagons. The maximum loading
length is 2.95 metres.
The new B-Class will go on sale in Europe this Summer.
