Mercedes-Benz B-Class axed in Australia

The tall Mercedes-Benz B-Class hatch has been discontinued in Australia, with no successor planned.

Mercedes-Benz Australia had announced the facelifted B-Class – unveiled in October 2022 – was due in the third quarter of this year (July to September inclusive).

However, a spokesperson told Wheels the B180 five-seat MPV is “no longer on offer in Australia” and will join the plug-in hybrid A250e hatch in the automotive graveyard, with no facelifted examples to be introduced locally.

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Based on the A-Class small car, the original B-Class arrived in Australia in 2005, followed by the second generation in 2012 and the latest iteration in 2018.

At launch, the third-gen B-Class was offered locally in B180 and B200 form before the latter variant was dropped in 2019, leaving the entry-level B180 as the sole offering.

In its 18-year run, 25,003 B-Classes were sold in Australia to June 2023, compared to more than 48,000 A-Classes over the same period.

The Mercedes-Benz B-Class remains in production for other markets – including Europe – with the recent facelift introducing a reshaped ‘star pattern’ grille, redesigned headlight internals, modified tail-lights, and new alloy wheel designs.

Inside, it gained Mercedes’s latest steering wheel design, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a simplified centre console, a higher-resolution 360-degree camera, “newly-designed” display styles, machine learning, an extra USB-C port, and a fingerprint scanner.

In Australia, the Mercedes-Benz B-Class faced no five-seat MPV competitors, with the similarly-shaped BMW 2 Series Active Tourer discontinued three years ago.

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A second-generation BMW 2 Series Active Tourer – heavily related to the latest X1 small SUV – was unveiled in late 2021 but remains off-limits for Australia.

Even mainstream offerings, such as the Toyota Prius V, Kia Rondo and Citroën C4 Picasso, have disappeared over the past decade.

Mercedes-Benz B-Class sales history in Australia