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Mercedes Reconsiders Vision SLA Concept

Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000 Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000 Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept 2000
It seems like Mercedes Benz has found the cure for the crisis, the small car. In this case, we are talking about the A-Class. But we all know that the A-Class is not a good looking car so German engineering was put into overdrive and they came up with the Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA concept that debuted at the 2000 Detroit Auto Show.

The model will be based on the A and B class platform. It will probably be beneath the SLK and it will rival models that were showcased at the Detroit show in January by Volkswagen and BMW. Mercedes will invest around 1.5 billion euros in the new platform for the roadster and will open a new production facility in Hungary.

Mercedes turned their eyes once again to the SLA concept to keep in line with the development of small-size roadsters like the 1 series based Z2 roadster that BMW is working on.

The next generation of the A and B Class models are expected in 2012. They will be fitted with a new front-wheel drive platform, four cylinder gasoline and diesel engines and two additional variants, a coupe and a SUV version.

Nothing has been planned yet for the future of the roadster and it remains uncertain if it will be presented on the North American market considering that sales have dropped 38.2 percent in November.

"When the SLA was originally proposed at the end of the last decade, we didn't have a suitable platform; the sandwich platform is too high and too heavy. This problem will be alleviated with the arrival of the next A-class, whose new platform provides much greater scope in terms of the sort of variants it can support," AutoWeek quoted a Mercedes-Benz senior official as saying.
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