Mercedes talks new B-class, teases look

It is becoming ever more important for luxury car makers to offer a compact car. BMW has the 1-series, Audi has the A3, and Mercedes-Benz has the B-class. Mercedes is introducing a new, refined B-class soon and has released technical specs for the new car.

The four-cylinder petrol engines in the B-class are completely new. Dubbed the M270, the new engines use direct injection and turbocharging and have been designed by Mercedes to be mounted either transversely or longitudinally. The 1.6 liter engine will be available with 122hp in the B180 and 156hp in the B200.

The B-class will also be available with two diesel engines. Both are 1.8 liter four-cylinder diesel engines and will produce 109hp in the B180 CDI and 136hp in the B200 CDI.

All B-class's are available with either a six-speed manual transmission or Mercedes' new seven-speed dual clutch transmission. The seven-speed has three modes: Economy, Sport and Manual, which allow drivers to cater their driving needs.

The car uses the latest version of Mercedes' Electronic Stability Control. The system is able to counter-act oversteering, compensates for torque steer and compensates for crosswinds and the road gradient. The system also uses brake-force vectoring to address surfaces with different levels of grip.

The new B-class will be the first car in its segment to include radar-based collision warnings and Brake Assist as standard. The Brake Assist works by scanning the road ahead and recognizing future accidents. If the system finds that the driver is about to experience an accident it calculates exactly the correct braking force to avoid the collision. The system can even further adjust the brake pressure if the car in front of you begins to accelerate away.

One way that Mercedes has tried to improve the new B-class is through extensive testing in a driving simulator. At the end of 2010, Mercedes completed an extensive renovation of its simulator, and the new B-class was one of the first of its cars to take advantage of the new technology. Mercedes placed drivers in a simulated B-class to fine-tune the ergonomics of the car's interior.

Mercedes has not yet revealed exactly what the new B-class will look like. It only released a dark image of the car in profile. Expect more information to come soon.