There Will Be No Replacement For The Mercedes B-Class

The rise in popularity of SUVs over the last few decades has been bad news for estates, hatchbacks, and even sedans—but the biggest victims are MPVs, and now the Mercedes B-Class is almost ready for retirement.

Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, Robert Lesnik, director of exterior design at Mercedes, said that “the B-Class definitely has no future” in response to the company expanding its coverage of the EV market with models like the new electric A-Class.

The brand initially planned four new models on its all-new Modular Architecture (MMA) platform: the CLA sedan and shooting brake, plus the new GLB SUV and the upcoming GLA. The upcoming electric A-Class will increase this number to five in a few years, but Mercedes has no plans to squeeze in an all-electric B-Class.

“People switched to SUVs. SUVs killed the MPV market,” explained Lesnik. He also pointed to the new GLB SUV, which will have seven seats, as the natural successor to the B-Class. The GLB, like the CLA, will also come with a hybrid powertrain.

The first B-Class arrived in 2004 with traditional MPV body styling, looking to extend the practicality of the A-Class, on which it was based. While the second-generation B-Class, launched in 2011, used the same MFA platform as the A-Class (which transformed into a family hatchback), the B-Class retained the MPV body style. This shape continued into the current B-Class, which has been around since 2018 with petrol, diesel, and plug-in hybrid powertrains.

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