Mercedes slashes M-Class price

First drive: Mercedes-Benz ML

Mercedes-Benz ML

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Latest M-Class sets new entry price point for segment, but key competitors say they have no plans to respond.

Mercedes-Benz has thrown down the gauntlet to rivals BMW, Audi and Lexus in the luxury SUV segment by slashing the entry price and loading more standard gear into its next-generation M-Class off-roader.

The diesel-powered ML250 CDI will be between $8300 and $10,700 cheaper than BMW’s X5 xDrive30d, Audi’s Q7 3.0 TDI and Lexus’s RX450h, while its official fuel efficiency of 6.4 litres per 100km betters all bar the hybrid Lexus which shares the same figure. The Lexus has more power but less torque than the Mercedes.

However, BMW and Audi have both declared they will not respond to Mercedes’ audacious move, insisting their entry-level offerings are still highly competitve.

With the ML250 CDI starting from $81,400 (plus on-road and dealer costs, Mercedes has chopped almost $4400 from the price of the previous range-opening ML300 CDI model while adding extra standard specification including the »Comand» multimedia system that includes sat-nav, reversing camera, 10GB music storage, Bluetooth audio streaming and internet capability.

It also gets daytime running lights, an electric parking brake, a fuel-saving engine stop-start system, Pre-Safe crash preparation, a drowsiness-detecting alert system and active parking assist, which can safely guide the large SUV into a parallel parking spot.

However, a third row of seating won’t be available at launch and is unlikely to be added as an option as more models join the ML range.

The ML250 CDI gets the same 2.1-litre, 150kW/500Nm turbo-diesel engine as the company already uses in its C250 and E250 CDI sedans. Its 6. 4L/100km fuel efficiency slices a remarkable 3.4L/100km from the ML300 CDI model it replaces, although its 0-100km/h acceleration of 9.0 seconds isn’t class-leading.

Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman David McCarthy says he expects the keenly priced entry-level variant — which hits dealerships in April — to shake up the competition.

»It’s game on,» he says. »This will not only be our volume ML model but we expect it to do big things in the segment. In fact, our major issue is going to be making sure we have the supply we need.

»The fact that we’ve cut the price and added a lot of gear means we think the M-Class buyer will be around $10,000 better off.»

BMW says it has no plans to introduce a smaller engine to its X5 range to counter Mercedes’ aggressive move or to revisit its specification, maintaining its customers can choose between the large X5 xDrive30d (from $92,100 or mid-size X3 xDrive30d (from $74,900.

»We compete with two cars against their one at that price point,» says BMW Australia spokesman Piers Scott.

»Whilst we’re always assessing what the competition is doing, we currently have no plans to revisit the X5 and would encourage anyone thinking of buying a Mercedes ML to contact their BMW dealer.»

Audi Australia spokeswoman Anna Burgdorf says Audi is also unlikely to react directly. »The strategy we follow is that repricing cars is quite dangerous for customer resale,» she says. »Will we react to match that pricing? We know that our Q7 is priced extremely well and has a high level of options and it’s selling. For us it’s not the right strategy in the long term to reprice cars mid-way through a model range.

»Changing the spec happens throughout the model life of cars — as the car ages you tend to add more benefits to it. But not as a direct retaliation. For Audi it’s important that we keep an eye on what our customers are demanding, and not reacting to what our competitors are doing because that’s a very slippery slope. »

Mercedes-Benz will be forced to continue with its one-size-fits-all SUV strategy for at least the next year or two until it can get its hands on the next generation of the smaller GLK soft-roader, as well as a compact SUV it expects to spin off the new B-Class underpinnings.

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