Westar Associates Ltd., authorised general distributor of Mercedes-Benz products in Nigeria, is targeting increased sales of 650 this year as against 500 products sold in 2012.

The company’s Managing Director, Mirko Plath, disclosed this at the premiere of the new Mercedes-Benz models A-Class and E-Class in Lagos, South-West Nigeria.

The event witnessed the launch of four new Mercedes-Benz products: A-Class 180, B-Class 180, C-Class 200 and two all new Model E-Class (200) manufactured and launched in Europe three months ago.

“The E-Class Benz has a very leading character in Nigeria auto market, it is redesigned and brought to Nigeria. It goes without saying that the E class belongs to Nigeria,” Plath said.

He noted that the new B-Class model was successfully launched in 2008 but the financial crunch affected the sales and in September, 2012 a second generation of the model, was launched in Europe and Asia.

“We believe our vehicles have a very sustainable character in Nigeria and have a very good acceptance rate in the country. We do not claim to be the entire market leader in the country- none would. Mercedes Benz however, is a premium product, playing in the league of equals,” the Westar MD stated.

In a bid to give Nigerians the best driving experience that Mercedes-Benz offers, car lovers and the general public were given an opportunity to test-drive the cars which were out on display.

Donald Nwankwo, Sales Manager, Mercedes-Benz Nigeria, noted that the idea is for car lovers to have a one-on-one interaction with the vehicles and to feel a oneness with the new and redesigned products.

He said: “We hope it would help educate Nigerians in general about the Mercedes-Benz brand. Basically not many people know that Mercedes-Benz has some small vehicles that are tagged at certain prizes like the B-Class and A-Class which are very trendy and appealing to low income earners.

“Most people have the misconception that Mercedes-Benz is E class, S class, G Wagon alone. But no, there are several other models. This will also serve as an opportunity to show Nigerians that Mercedes Benz makes cars for different income classes. So we are doing all these things today more or less to still be in the minds of Nigerians that we are still the market leader. Nigerians should expect durability, comfort and safety.”

Tagged wonder on wheels, the new E-Class (E 200) comes with a 1.8-litre engine, fuel management technology, capacity for both manual and automatic drive mode, courtesy of new, powerful BlueDIRECT four-cylinder petrol engines featuring sophisticated direct injection technology. This powerful development boost is reflected to exciting effect in the design of the E-Class. Along with its new design, it encapsulates efficiency, intelligence and emotional appeal in a visually superior manner. It has a superior breaking power. With the pre-safe® Brake, it can detect pedestrians and initiate autonomous braking to avoid a collision at speeds up to 50 km/h.

The new and redesigned B-Class (B 180) features sleek, structured surfaces, stylish details, precision workmanship. The entire drive programme is completely new: four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines with direct injection and turbo-charging, dual clutch transmission and manual transmission; in addition to several new assistance systems to support the driver.

Design and dynamism are obvious characteristics of the new A-Class (A 180) even at first glance, simply in the way it sits up to 18 centimetres closer to the road than its predecessor. Through fresh interpretation of the classic two-box design which has a distinct character of its own, the result is a sportily emotive exterior and an exceptionally high-quality feel to the interior. It is the only vehicle in its class to feature as standard a radar-based collision warning system with adaptive Brake Assist, which lowers the risk of rear-end collisions. The collision prevention assist system gives a visual and acoustic warning to alert a possibly distracted driver to identified obstacles, and prepares Brake Assist for the most precise braking response possible. This is initiated as soon as the driver steps firmly on the brake pedal.

The new C-Class (C 200) range of equipment includes some superb technical innovations such as agility control, adaptive brake and Blue efficiency, which helps the C-Class to set standards in the compact premium-car segment.

•Photos shows one of the new M-Benz models.

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