It's not coming to the US. In much of the world lower end M-Bs are like chevys and fords here, ie taxicabs, etc.
Mercedes is the poster child of how to take a luxury brand and tarnish it down to an every day brand. Mercedes was once a luxury auto firm. That was until they introduced the C-Class at $35k that looked remarkably like the S-Class at $125k. Maybe they figured they could sell 4 C-Class to every 1 S-Class but who knows. BMW is eating MB's lunch in the US.
BMW is the poster child of a luxury brand gone to the dogs, so not a good comparison. Their 1-serie is driven by every junior pancakemixsalesman. In Europe BMW is hardly selling any 7-series at all, the S-class is generally still regarded as the pinnacle of the luxury saloon. BMW, Audi and MB have all been downgrading the last decade. Only Porsche has been able to increase their output, to a large extent at the cost of the former three, without corrupting their brand value. However they might fall into this trap as well with the new Macan and the planned sub-Boxster.
Funny to read these comments and compare to Tesla Very upmarket now. Everyone waiting for 35K 3rd gen before thinking they can really survive. How many years til someone says they have gone downhill?
Don't know about the States, but in Europe most of these electrics/hybrids get bought because of favourable tax treatment. IE this piece of crap is 40k retail, however if you have a company, it will cost you 7k after all the tax breaks. It's the most hated car in the Netherlands. http://www.mitsubishi-motors.nl/out...Lvh2otpu14LwM4WdU3QALckQ5O_pXI8Fq8aAgSa8P8HAQ