According to German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche, DamilerChrysler is planning on dropping the baby-benz A-Class from its product range. A Mercedes-Benz spokesman said that was speculation but with previous reports saying that Mercedes-Benz is now working on a radical revamping of the A-Class to compete with the BMW 1-Series and Audi A3 by 2011, we believe this to be true.

The story started surfacing when AutoZeitung reported in early May that the underpinnings of the A-Class (a compact minivan station wagon thingy), could spawn a sporty small roadster in 2011 based on the Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA Concept which was inspired by the A-Class as well.

The Mercedes-Benz A-Class, which started production in 1997, sold almost 1.5 million units at the end of 2006. While we hate to see it go, we’d much rater have a real BMW 1-Series competitor rather than a baby mini-van looking car.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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