GOYANG, SOUTH KOREA - A model poses next to a Mercedes-Benz New A Class at the Seoul Motor Show 2019 at KINTEX on March 28, 2019 in Goyang, South Korea.
(Photo : Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Mercedes-Benz has decided to remove the A-Class sedan from its U.S. lineup with a spokesperson for the German automaker confirming to website Car and Driver that the A220 model will no longer be made available to the American market after the 2022 model year.
That is sad news for consumers looking to buy the cheapest Mercedes around. The A220 four-door served as Mercedes-Benz's price leader in the lineup with a starting cost of $35,000. The GLA-class crossover will soon take over as the entry-level Benz in the U.S. market with a starting price of $37,450.
It was only a matter of time before Mercedes-Benz killed off the A-Class sedan from its lineup in the United States. Before removing the A220 model, Mercedes had already dropped the A-35, the A-class sedan's more powerful AMG variant, just two months ago.
A-Class sales flounder in the U.S.
Contributing to Mercedes-Benz's decision to remove the A-Class altogether is the lowering sales of the A220, as per The Drive. After selling 17,641 units in its first year in the American market in 2019, Mercedes saw the sales of the A220 model drop to just 8,108 in 2021. That signaled a massive 47 percent drop compared to its sales numbers in 2020.
The low volume of the A-Class was a major problem for Mercedes as the company gets lower profit margins from it because of its lower price. Aside from the well-aged S.L., the A-Class had the biggest year-to-year drop in sales out of all the Mercedes cars officially still in production.
While the profit margins on the A-Class were never strong, to begin with, because of its lower price, Mercedes' main purpose in selling them was to attract young people to its brand and retain these buyers once they decide to upgrade to a larger vehicle like a GLC crossover or a C-Class sedan. Unfortunately for Mercedes, that did not materialize with the A-Class recording paltry sales in the U.S., forcing the German car brand to cut its losses.
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Will CLA be the next one to get the ax?
Yahoo News reported that it did not help the A-Class that it also had competition within Mercedes. The German automaker also sells the CLA-Class in the U.S., a sedan almost similar in performance, price, size, and many other ways to the A-Class.
In the memo that Mercedes sent to its dealers in the United States, the company confirmed that CLA would continue to be produced for the U.S. market in 2023. It may not be long before the CLA gets the ax as well, though, with the model only selling 6,822 units in the U.S. last year, even lower than the sales of the A-Class in 2021.
Mercedes has higher hopes for the GLA, which gave a strong sales performance last year. It sold 14,322 units in the U.S. in 2021, with the GLA outselling the A-Class by a 1.8:1 ratio.
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