Mercedes-Benz A-Class Prototype Has Too Many Badges in Germany

But in fact, we saw something just like this in Spain late last year. Back then, it had no less than three of those emblems.

With a car like this, we're going to ask more questions than we have answers. For example, why is Mercedes using the W176 prototype when there are plenty of fully functioning W177 models ready and testing all across Europe?

Obviously, all three badges would have been used by a radar cruise control system. It's something customers now take for granted in a Mercedes. Of course, you can't have a full active safety suite without cameras, which is what you see at the top of the windshield of this prototype.

So why would the engineers need so many radars on one car? Well, one answer would be that each one had a different wavelength that they want to test out. Or maybe the data from both can be used to precisely determine an object's distance and location.

Another option is that this has nothing to do with the A-Class and they are simply quietly developing their own autonomous car. It's something they promised to happen around the end of the decade, after all.

But the S-Class has always been at the forefront of new Daimler tech development, while the A-Class is just their cheapest car. You'd also expect the car of the future to be electric, which this clearly isn't.

Is there a reason to mention the all-new A-Class that should come out by next year? Yes. Even if it's not going to be autonomous, we still believe that it will dominate the luxury compact car segment with its cutting edge interior design and the modular, planted new chassis that will allow the installation of a plug-in powertrain. Walko has a few seconds of footage with the W177 at the beginning of this video. But he's given us a lot more in the past months.