Q3 & X1 Rival Mercedes GLA Launch Plans Revealed; Coming by Oct

Mercedes-Benz has just launched the CLA 45 AMG in India a couple of days back and according to a report at Zigwheels.com, it would be bringing its compact crossover, the GLA in India by October.

It would compete primarily with BMW’s X1 and Audi’s Q3 and it’s the latter that seems to be current favorite now. Most would remember that BMW had the first mover advantage when it launched the X1 in December 2010. Buyers thronged the BMW showrooms and the X1 continued to sell well until Audi came out with the Q3 in 2012.

Mercedes-GLA-Compact-SUV-India

Now, the Stuttgart manufacturer might be late to the party but it seems all set to up the game in this segment. The GLA, in all probability, would come with a choice of two engines – a diesel and a petrol with the diesel available in two states of tune. The base diesel would most likely be the 200 CDI that employs a 2143 cc turbo-diesel mill putting out 134 bhp and 300 Nm.

Expect the vehicle to come only with a seven-speed automatic transmission, though a six-speed manual is also offered internationally. This front-wheel-drive version would spar with the Audi Q3 S in the Indian market – the latter is also a front-wheel-drive car but despite being low on power as compared to the Quattro versions, the the Q3 S still makes more power (143 bhp) than the base diesel GLA (134 bhp).

The same engine with 168 bhp will power the GLA 220 CDI and this model will come with four-wheel-drive. The petrol GLA would feature a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine that will produce 154 bhp. Like the 200 CDI, this one would also come as a front-wheel-drive only.

So, a festive season launch is what Mercedes has planned and expect the pricing to start from somewhere around Rs 25 Lakhs which puts it bang in the Q3/X1 territory!

Related: Mercedes’ Baby GLA Spied in India

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