Mercedes Benz B-Class Luxury Hatchback Facelift Launch Date Announced

The Mercedes Benz B-Class luxury hatchback’s facelifted version will be launched on the 11th of March, 2015. The car will be a part of the 15 launches that the German luxury automaker plans to blitz India’s market with, this year. The facelifted B-Class hatchback will receive a mild range of updates, to give the car another shot at the hustings. The first MFA platform based car to be launched in India, the B-Class hasn’t mustered enough traction owing to its shape that makes it look more like a mini MPV than a sporty hatchback. It is for this reason that the ravishing A-Class outsells the B-Class, despite the latter being the more practical and roomier option.

In terms of changes on the outside, the car will receive new headlamps that can now be specified with LEDs, the air dams up front get larger while the bumpers at the front and the rear get a re-profiling. The tail lamps are also new, and the detailing changes are wrapped up with a dab of chrome on the hatch lid. On the inside, there are three prominent changes. The 8 inch touch screen infotainment interface is new and so is the multi-function steering wheel. The ambient lighting package is now available with 12 colours for the driver to choose from. These changes wrap up the facelift, even as engine and transmission options of the pre-facelift model are carried over to the new version.

The petrol motor is a 1.6 liter-4 cylinder turbocharged unit that makes 120 Bhp-200 Nm while the diesel motor is the 2.2 liter-4 cylinder turbocharged unit, detuned significantly to output 108 Bhp-250 Nm. Both motors drive the front wheels of the luxury hatchback by means of a 7 speed twin clutch automatic gearbox. The hatchback will continue to be imported into India through the completely built unit (CBU) route, as Mercedes Benz’s current plans for the MFA platform based car models include local assembly of only the recently launched CLA sedan. Expect pricing of the facelifted B-Class to be similar to the outgoing model considering the minor nature of the makeover.