Mercedes used its 2026 Strategy Update on 12 February 2026 to confirm that the current A-Class will get a successor for Europe, even though the company had earlier signalled that the lower end of its entry range was less attractive from a margin and regulatory standpoint.
CEO Ola Källenius said Mercedes has already decided on “a very exciting, hot as hell successor to what is currently the A-Class,” but stopped short of revealing it because the current model “is running for this year until the end of next year.” That points to the next-gen A-Class premiering in 2028.
Europe-focused vehicle
In the strategy presentation, Mathias Geisen, the company’s sales boss, said Europe was Mercedes’s biggest sales region last year and that the company will keep EU-specific products in its line-up, including the CLA Shooting Brake and “the entry model below the CLA.”
Källenius repeated the same theme in the wider portfolio discussion. He said Mercedes will “stay in entry and manage the entry volume,” adding that the entry point matters because it is where a younger customer first comes into contact with the brand. He described the role of the future A-Class successor as an “adequate, very attractive entry point” for Europe.
When asked why Mercedes had changed its mind after previously presenting the lower end of the entry segment as weak from a margin and CO2 standpoint during the analyst and media call, Källenius answered that the calculation now looks different because “the MMA architecture (is) fully industrialized and all the technologies available.”
He said the model only requires “a very reasonable investment amount” and that current variable-cost assumptions allow it to meet Mercedes’ “lower end threshold.”
Numbers now support the car
Källenius handled the financial side of the answer, then handed the market case to Geisen. Geisen said the A-Class remains relevant because its buyers are younger than the wider Mercedes customer base.
He said the current A-Class attracts customers with an average age “7 years younger” than the Mercedes-Benz average and added that the company also sees “very attractive downstream business” tied to that ownership base. He said the model “will definitely be a profitable case.”
MMA changes the product strategy
Mercedes also used the Strategy Update to explain how the new entry architecture changes the powertrain plan. Källenius said that on the MMA Platform, Mercedes has “gracefully retired the plug in hybrid” and will focus on BEV and regular mild-hybrid powertrains instead.
He described MMA as the new entry architecture for Mercedes-Benz and said the wider company is preparing for a heterogeneous market where combustion, hybrid and electric products will coexist for at least the next decade.
Harald Wilhelm, Mercedes’s finance boss, added another piece of context in the strategy presentation. He said entry products migrating from the predecessor of MMA would move “from the plug-ins into the BEV,” which helps explain why Mercedes now sees the entry portfolio differently.
Hatchback profile
Mercedes did not say what shape the A-Class successor will take. Källenius only said the design preview he saw in 2025 made him think: “It’s hot as hell. I want that,” during the analyst and media call.
This makes us believe that Mercedes designers could execute a design that does not cannibalize the GLA. Mercedes exterior design director Robert Lesnik, who spoke to Auto Express, said it would use a “cab-back body rather than cab-forward” design, which should make it look more like the CLA than an EQE.
We expect it to compete with models including the Audi A2 e-tron and the VW ID. Golf in the final part of the decade, priced north of GBP 40,000.
Trained as an automobile engineer, I’ve been following the global car market since 2005. Over the past 17 years, I’ve been involved in online automotive analysis and publishing, traveling the world to drive, evaluate, and experience new cars and technologies.
