Mercedes Benz gets a whopping 40,000 orders for the A-Class even before the sports hatchback’s launch

German luxury car maker Mercedes Benz seems to have got the equation just right with the latest 2013 A-Class sports hatchback. The car, which will be launched in the international market later this year has managed to bag no less tan 40,000 pre-orders. The A-Class hatchback is expected to be least priced Mercedes Benz car, targeting younger car buyers. Although the car would be positioned as an entry level model, Mercedes Benz will keep the luxury quotient intact, with the buzz word for the A-Class being that of “affordable luxury”.

2013 Mercedes Benz A-Class Sports Hatchback

Anticipating increasing demand for the car, Mercedes Benz has even engaged contract manufacturer Valmet, to produce no less than 100,000 A-Class cars over the next three years. Valmet will produce this quantity of cars from 2013 to 2016. The A-Class is a sporty hatchback, that will come with a range of petrol and diesel engines,all of them turbocharged. For the frugal minded, Mercedes Benz is even offering the 1.5 Liter K9K turbo diesel engine that the brand has borrowed from French automaker Renault. In the A-Class, the K9K turbo diesel engine will be tuned to produce 109 Bhp-240 Nm.

2013 Mercedes Benz A-Class Sports Hatchback Side Profile

The engines will be available with both manual as well as automatic gearbox options. The manual gearbox will be a six speed unit while the automatic gearbox will be a 7 speed dual clutch unit. Mercedes Benz also has an AMG version of the A-Class lined up for launch sometime in 2013. The high performance AMG tuned A-Class will be the most powerful in the hatchback’s line up, while also being the most affordable in the AMG range. The A-Class is built on the MFA platform, which it will share with the rest of the Mercedes Benz entry level car models like the B-Class, the CLA coupe and the GLA crossover.

2013 Mercedes Benz A-Class Sports Hatchback Rear

The German luxury car marque is betting big on the MFA platform to give it good volumes and gauging by the demand the A-Class sports hatchback has been seeing, Mercedes Benz might well be on its way to grabbing back market share that it has lost to rivals like BMW and Audi. The A-Class hatchback will be sold in the Indian car market as well. The car is expected to be assembled at Mercedes Benz India’s Chakan CKD assembly facility. The car will be launched in India during 2013 and is expected to be the least price Mercedes Benz model at aboout 20-22 lakhs for the base model.

Via EGMCarTech