16 wheelsmag.com.au
MERCEDES-Benz’s new A-Class
heralds a welcome, if radical,
return to a clean, minimalist
design that is in total contrast
to the overwrought, convoluted
styling of many of today’s new
models. Revealed at the Shanghai
motorshow as the A-Class Concept
Sedan, the attractive new design
language ignores today’s trend to
ever more creases, edges and lines.
In an exclusive interview,
Mercedes’ design boss Gorden
Wagener told Wheels, “It’s basically
a progression of our Sensual
Purity design that I call Sensual
Purity 2.5. To our rational German
design we’ve added the beauty by
cleaning up the design to the next
level by taking lines off the car.
The previous A-Class influenced
mainstream design – by adding
more lines. Now we go in the
opposite direction.”
The new A-Class – expected
to be launched, little changed
from the A-Class
Concept, in sedan
and hatchback
forms at next
year’s Geneva
show in March
- introduces a tilt-
forward grille to add
visual length to the
bonnet. Wagener
denies this has an
adverse impact on the new
car’s aerodynamics.
“The slightly negative grille
doesn’t affect the drag,” he claims.
“What’s most important [to aero]
is the influence of the area in front
of the front wheels, in front of the
rear wheels and the height of the
trunk [boot] lid area. We’ve been
gradually putting our grilles more
and more upright, and now it’s
slightly negative, it’s a great design
feature. Tapering the greenhouse
[cabin] gives the car real shoulders
and also helps the aero.”
Mercedes-Benz declares
less is more for the
next-generation A-Class
Purity of
essence
Striking front end gets a
touchofcomplexitybyusing
heavily detailed headlights.
Sculptured framing of low
grille and air vents clean and
simple. Neat rear end also
getsuniquelighting
Concept A Sedan uses so-called
Panamericana grille, as seen on
Mercedes Sculpture concept, from latest
production AMG models. Won’t appear
on the regular A-class models. Grille is
tilted forwards to add extra elongation
tothebonnet,doesn’thurtaero
JUNE 2017
Red
line
’Ring of authenticity
The Green Hell must be looking busier than
a Westfield carpark with a fresh batch of
Nurburgring Nordschleife laptime claims and
speculation. Porsche recently shaved 12 seconds
off its 911 GT3 laptime with the new facelifted
model. Honda also returned with its Civic Type R
to reclaim the front-drive record with a 7:43 lap.
There could be a new outright lap record soon,
with a McLaren P1 LM spotted at full tilt on an
industry pool day. Speculation says the street-
legal record of 6:48.28 held by a Radical SR
LM is the target time to beat.