A big "C" styled in silver at the entrance of the hotel Westin Book Cadillac in downtown Detroit, just give the clue to what guests will see there. A year ago, the German automaker Mercedes-Benz had already reserved the space to present the CLA, released to be the new gateway to the sophisticated range of brand automobiles.
Already on Sunday night, in the opening event that precedes the opening to the press of the Detroit Auto show, the goal was to present to the world the new generation of its best-selling car, the C Class.
Promote the presentation of the model in American territory was not a random German automaker's decision. In addition to the United States represent the largest consumer market this model-which, in the previous version, sold more than 2.4 million units worldwide-Mercedes factory in Alabama, in the southeast of the country, will produce the sedan starting this year, along with three other SUVs already assembled on site.
But the release also deserved attention of Brazilian journalists that accompanied the presentation. After all, the model C is one of the two cars to be initially produced at the factory that Mercedes-Benz will build in Iracemápolis, in São Paulo State, with investments of r $ 500 million. The other model is the SUV GLA.
Fit to host the party, the Chairman of Daimler, Dieter Zetsche, to present the evolutions of the car. Compared to the previous version, the new class C weighs 100 pounds less-touted as the lightest in-segment, in addition to being bigger: it's almost 10 cm in length and 4 cm in width additional.
The new C-class will be sold in Europe from € 33.6 million, but the price for the Brazilian market is not defined
Mercedes still incorporated in car technologies that were at the top of its range, as the fatigue sensor and the automatic braking system that reduces, autonomously, the severity of accidents in case of cars at speeds up to 200 miles per hour.
When referring to the CES technology fair held in Las Vegas (United States) last week, Zetsche cited such advances as an example of speed on auto industry innovation. "In the past, visit the CES used to be a strong reminder that the information technology industry is a little faster than ours. But now we are increasing the pace of innovation. And we're also accelerating the migration of devices from the top to the center of our line, "commented the Executive.
The new C-class will be sold in Europe from € 33.6 million (equivalent to $ 117 thousand). In Brazil, the model starts to be imported in the second half of this year, but Mercedes still not informed by what value it will be marketed.
To be approached by Brazilian journalists after presentation, Zetsche said the premium market growth in Brazil and said that the automaker has suitable products in the segment of compact to meet this demand.
According to him, the automaker designs Iracemápolis factory development in two phases, starting with a production capacity of 20 thousand cars per year of two models. After that, the brand will evaluate whether to break a second stage of investments to expand capacity and portfolio. On-site fabrication of trademark smart subcompactos is not in the plans in the first cycle.
The Executive spoke on the recovery of the u.s. market, where sales of Mercedes grew 14 percent last year. "Almost one in every five luxury cars sold is a Mercedes," said Zetsche during the premiere in Detroit. For him, the sales of cars in the United States, which totaled 15.5 million last year, must exceed 16 million units in 2014.
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