Back in March we brought you details and spy photos of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz B-Class AMG, and today we’ve got photos of yet another 2012 B-Class, this time in taxi form. The future generation B-Class was spied testing outside Mercedes’ test and engineering facility in Germany, clad in full camouflage, false body panelling and a roof taxi sign. Why exactly was their a yellow taxi sign on a testing vehicle? It may be a joke… it may be aerodynamics testing… or they may be offering taxi rides to help cover rising R&D costs. Your guess is as good as ours.
Commenting on the upcoming changes to their compact lineup, Dr. Joachim Schmidt, head of sales and marketing at Mercedes-Benz, has noted: “In the next couple of years, we will launch additional cars where we don’t currently have predecessors. Our current A-Class and B-Class will be replaced by a new platform for four totally different cars defining new segments for Mercedes.” Schmidt went on to state that “If you want young customers, you need to have a brand that is sexy and sporty. The reason we didn’t get this customer before was, in my opinion, not a brand issue, but a product issue.”
It still anyone’s guess how Mercedes’ future compact models will differ from the current lineup, considering the two are still looking relatively similar, but we’ll keep you posted as more revealing photos are unearthed. In the meantime, you can check out additional photos of the 2012 Mercedes B-Class in the photo gallery below, then head over to Gmotors for the full article. Thanks to Luke for the tip.
