degeester

While I was driving my daughter home from school through Indian Wells, CA. I spotted a A180 four door with hatchback in black. No plates but nothing else disguising the car. Are these now for sale in the U.S., It looked appropriate on the street compared to other cars as far as size goes.

On the road where Kia's, Toyota's and pickup trucks. Of note, the A180 was being followed by a silver ML 430 (older W163) I think it was unrelated, and I was in our '06 S500. Ahead of us was a new W164.

If Americans are going nuts for Prius' they'd go crazy for this A class.

benzmodz

They should have released the A-Class before they released the R-Class.

The Prius is a car that almost does what it promises. I think it is but like all good technology the first 20 years or so are a waste of time but as things improve they become icons of new technology.

MARK CUMMINS

I Have seen several A class here in So Cal..Mercedes is NOT selling them here
So its the (GRAY Market) No Support / Warranty from Mercedes

Looks Like Mercedes stated Today the Plans for the Smart car is a Go for the USA in Late 2007...Wow its about time!

MagicO309D

MB supports grey-market cars except additions made to Federalize (California-ize) the car for sale in the US. I'm not a fan of the "A" but it would sure be fun to own a ForTwo! I hope the US versions will offer a better transmission than the manumatic currently in production.

MARK CUMMINS

Mercedes does NOT Support The (GRAY) market vehicles..as When I Had My G Wagon in 1987..NO Help from ANY dealers re support or Parts..Same as for My Smart..NO Help or Support..As the Euro Models do NOT use the same EPC/WIS and Star Diag as The USA vehicles... .. TRY going into a MB Dealer and ask for a oil filter for a Smart? The Part Tech will have a Blank Stare..ahhh whats that? So I Have Bought all The Items myself and Order Parts Via Mercedes/Germany Fed Ex

The Smart For Two Will have a NEW Engine / Trans on the 2007 Model
Should be a LOT better!

TNblkc230wz

Not sure if the Smart cars will sell here. There are good commuter car, but most people buy Suburbans to commute. The Fortwo would be a nice car. I personally think the A Class would do well. They couldn't sell the up market cars, but the lower price once should sell well.

xlr8tin

There's plenty of people here in the North East that drive small cars. There everywhere. But I wouldn't imagine them being good in the snow up here.

patrick_y

I also saw an A Class in downtown San Francisco on Van Ness street. I was surprised as well.

The Smart will come over to the states in a few years.

I don't think Mercedes will bring the A Class here, they will however bring the smart car here.

The Smart car will be priced similarily to the Mini Cooper even though it's smaller and has a much smaller engine. It's supposed to be a fashion accessory.

When I was in Italy, I saw smart cars all over. And they park Smartcars on the road differently than what we're used to. When we parallel park our longer cars, we have the length of the car parallel to the curb. The smart car, they just drive face forward into the curb like it were a normal parking space.

In certain countries with smaller roads in Europe (like Italy; Germany and UK have very large roads), there are a lot of small cars that are so small they don't even sell them in the states (I hear in Japan they have cars the size of rickshaws). However, as the people in the US start desiring smaller and efficient cars, they will capitalize upon that market.

Everyday, I see dozens of S500s with only one person in them. When I drive, the car is usually empty except for myself as well. Seems like an awful waste of space.

patrick_y

Besides, I thought they said they might bring the B Class over. I saw that car during my last visit to Europe and I thought it was beautiful. And I'm not a person who normally likes hatchback/wagons.

HansBlix

M-B dealers will support out of market cars, just depends where. Washington DC probably has the largest concentration of european-spec cars in the US (NYC a close second) because of the diplomatic missions in the city. I have seen an 4dr A140 being serviced at an M-B dealer in the DC area.

There are a few hundred current/ late model Mercedes vehicles in the DC area that are not sold in the United States, including the A-class, Vaneo, Viano, and B-class to name a few. Most are just diesels or engine varieties that were never sold here.

swmgtl04

I see that MB has a European purchase program, but not for A-class. I have been in France for several months and am dying to buy an A-class and bring it back with me - any advice?

HansBlix

Unless you are a foreign diplomat, you can forget about bringing an A-class to the states. It hasnt been crash tested, etc, it not enough to just make the lights US spec, millions of dollars is how much it costs for any type of car to be crash-tested, blah blah blah, this has been discussed on just about every automotive forum.

Even though there are several ways of skirting customs, such as importing it as a kit car with the body and engine separately, and titling it that way, in most cases its just not worth it.

You can, if you have something like $10-25K to spend, import and federalize an E200 or S320 - basically a body type that has been crash-tested in the US. It all depends on how much has to be changed. Japanese car enthusiasts probably have the most experience in bringing non-US market cars to the states, RHD Skylines, etc

Tens of thousands of used cars are imported from Canada each year - your best bet is buying a Merc B-class there since most federalization requirements are waived for Canadian cars being brought into the states. I havent heard of anyone actually doing it with a B-class, so it may be impossible.

JJB622

I too saw that A Class on Van Ness when I was visiting SF. It was burgundy; I believe it had diplomat plates as well. Very interesting car.. cool to see it in person.

medici78

I've seen several A and B Classes driving in the States with Mexican plates. In Mexico you can get any model you would get in Europe except no diesel. As for US-legal, not a chance. The Canada loophole doesnt exist as the requirements are waived only if the same exact model was officially sold in the States.

Vik888

I saw an A180 in Irvine, Calif (SoCal) in a metalic lime green the other day. It had Distributor (DST??) plates .. I should have taken pics with my camera phone.

HansBlix

Yup, those would be Distributor plates. Was it the current or previous generation A-class?

I have yet to see/take a pic of an A-class in the states, I've been trying to catch a silver 4dr A140 in Washington DC for a couple years now, have failed to get a pic numerous times. Its personal now, lol

Vik888

I don't know enough about the A-class to know which generation it was.

Btw, those DST plates were California plates, so for those that said that you can't register the car in the U.S., if it has plates, it has to be registered here right?

HansBlix

Yeah but Distributor and Manufacturer plates are used by car companies when testing cars around the world, so its not registered to a private individual, and federalization requirements do not apply. There are a ton of research centers in Cali, all sorts of out-of-market vehicles have been spotted over the years on DST plates.

FrankW

saw a F-cell A-class monday night. It had Fuel Cell theme on the paint and F-cell badge with DST plate. Took a pic with my phone, but haven't upload it yet cuz i can't find my bluetooth device for the computer.

kunyuk84

If i am not wrong a friend of mine who is a euro car broker told me that the city of Pasadena, California, has one red A class as their some sort of a company car.

HansBlix

Was it one like this? This is a pic of a bunch of members of Congress taking a test drive in one during the past year.