Mercedes-Benz has used its latest small-car chassis to underpin everything from small hatches to seven-seat SUVs, but there’s one place you won’t find it.
The company has ruled out developing a less practical, Audi Q3 Sportback-rivalling coupe version of the compact GLA SUV.
Markus Nast, Mercedes-Benz spokesperson for compact cars, told Australian media the brand’s compact line-up is “very well loaded” at the moment, and says feedback from the first-generation GLA showed buyers wanted more rear headroom, not less.
“No actually, there is no plan to put a coupe on [the GLA],” Mr Nast said.
Kickstarted by the BMW X6, the coupe SUV craze has seen Mercedes-Benz develop sloping-roof versions of the larger GLC and GLE SUVs.
Audi and BMW have both taken the body style and made it smaller, with the Q3 Sportback and X2 respectively, while Volvo’s electric spinoff, Polestar, has adopted a sedan-meets-SUV design for its Tesla Model 3 rival.
But Mr Nast says people simply don’t want a coupe-roof SUV in a Mercedes-Benz line-up already including the A-Class hatch and sedan, B-Class MPV, CLA coupe and Shooting Brake, GLA and GLB SUVs.
“We don’t see a demand for a car like this, honestly,” he said.
Mercedes-Benz said it planned to spin eight models off the MFA II platform underpinning the A-Class and GLA. It has currently revealed seven, and is expected to soon complete the set with the pure-electric EQA.
