A New Shape For The Future

Stretched limousines or bright red Ferraris turn few heads among the burghers of Burssels. The Belgian capitals citizens are so inured to cavalcades of flag-carrying automotive exotica for the bigwigs of the European Union or top brass of Nato that they have long since stopped noticing most vehicles on their streets.

But a tiny new car just 3.5 metres long has been attracting attention all over town this week. For the next month, Mercedes-Benz, the German carmaker best known for its luxury limos, has chosen the capital of Europe to launch its new A class, which goes on sale from October.

 

The dramatically styled A Class has stood automotive convention on its head by putting the engine under the drivers feet and raising the floor to give passengers a commanding view over other vehicles. Although shorter than a Volkswagen Golf, Europes most popular car, it claims as much interior space as much larger vehicles while offering the comfort of a traditional Mercedes-Benz saloon, says Mr Dieter Zetsche, the companys board member for sales and distribution.

It has enormous style and character, which will serve it well. But it may be just a little too challenging, says Mr Peter Schmidt, co-head of AID, a motor industry consultancy.

The early signs are promising: Mercedes-Benz says it has received up to 500 orders a day from German customers since it started taking reservations in May. Some 3,000 Italians have put down DM5,000 (.....pound sterling 1,750) deposits to bag their place in the queue when sales start in October.And Mercedes-Benz workers, who are allowed to buy one cut-price company car a year and are well known for sniffing out a good buy, have ordered a 43,000.

Such figures have triggered speculation that Mercedes-Benz may have trouble meeting demand for the A Class, which at DM30,060 will cost only 3 per cent more than a similarly equipped VW Golf. The company has set its sights high, expanding its plant at Rastatt in southern Germany to make 200,000 A Class cars a year and building a factory in Brazil for an additional 70,000 or 80,000 units a year from 1999.

But the reshaping of Europes small-car market, which has been literally taken to an extreme by the angular A Class, has been under way for some time. Once, small cars were cheap and cheerful, but not particularly sophisticated, comfortable - or safe. Each country had its own icon: the Mini in Britain; the Citroen 2CV in France,or the original Cinquecento in Italy.

But sales of very small, and by definition cheap, cars drifted in Europe in the 1980s. From about 6 per cent of the market in 1980, the share of such vehicles dropped to 3.4 per cent a decade later as motorists traded up to the new, slightly larger superminis then being developed. Others turned away when the choice and quality of smaller cars declined as manufacturers concentrated on larger vehicles.

That all changed in 1992 with the arrival of Fiats second-generation Cinquecento and Renaults Twingo a year later. By the end of 1996, Fiat had sold about 680,000 Polish-built Cinquecentos, while Renault managed 800,000 Twingos. In Germany alone, where much larger family saloons dominate the market, cars shorter than 3.7 metres had captured 5 per cent of sales, according to Mr Gunter Hormandinger, an automotive specialist.

Vehicles such as the Twingo showed that small cars could be stylish and sophisticated as well as economical. The Seat Arosa, launched earlier this year by VWs Seat subsidiary in Spain, includes as standard many features such as airbags, power steering and anti-lock brakes, which were once the domain of much bigger models.

Small cars have also rediscovered some of the flair that once made the Mini fashionable in Paris.

The Twingos cheeky looks and flexible interior have made it as appealing to well-off town dwellers as to impecunious country types. About two-thirds of Twingo owners have opted for better-equipped versions of the vehicle, including one-off designer models, notes Mr Patrick Blain. Renaults director of product marketing. Fords curvaceous Ka, introduced last year, has tried to be similarly chic.

Growing environmental concerns, especially in green-minded continental European countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, have helped small cars make their comeback. Germanys motor manufacturers are racing to produce the first model which will use less than three litres of petrol per 100 km travelled.

Adam Opel, the German subsidiary of General Motors, the worlds biggest car company, claims the new three-cylinder engine in its small Corsa hatch-back offers unprecedented fuel economy and emission levels. Fuel consumption and pollution records could be shattered next year when the Smart, a plastic-bodied two-seater being developed by Mercedes-Benz and Switzerlands SMH watches group, best-known for the Swatch, takes to the roads. And a future version of the A Class may even use a hydrogen-based fuel cell.

But it is in flexibility that the A Class points most convincingly to the future. Car stylists have for some time been working to maximise interior space and carrying capacity in ever smaller packages. Last year, Renaults unconventional Megane Scenic - a cross between a traditional lower-medium sized saloon and a multi-purpose people carrier - was voted European car of the year by a panel of leading motoring journalists, largely because of its innovative interior packaging.

The A Class looks set to win the coveted award this time round through its mixture of new technology and unconventional thinking. Small cars may never be the same again.

Financial Times