Mercedes will utilise Renault‘s acclaimed 1.5-litre dCi diesel engine for its forthcoming A-Class – due autumn 2012 – in a bid to leapfrog rivals on economy and emissions.
Jörg Prigl, vice president of the A- and B-class programme, told BusinessCar the new A-class would be the “fuel consumption benchmark” for the segment and that the already efficient dCi engine would have a “CO2 package” applied to it by Merc.
Prigl said: “We definitely have to be at the leading edge. It will be a clear Mercedes engine engineered by us on top of the base Renault engine, that’s very important. There will be a difference between the Renault version and the Mercedes version.”
Prigl said the remaining engines would come from Mercedes, with three power outputs from a 1.6-litre petrol unit, the 1.8 diesel also used in the current C-class, plus a 2.0 diesel.
There are no plans to include the small dCi engine in the new B-class launching this November however, despite being on the same platform. Its job will be to keep existing customers while adding new interior flexibility including movable (60:40) rear seats that can also recline.
Follow BusinessCar on TWITTER
