New Mercedes-Benz B-Class debuts in Paris

GERMAN giant’s latest hatch brings looks and smarts and a supercar beating feature.

2019 Mercedes-Benz B-Class.

Mercedes-Benz has revealed its new B-Class hatch at the 2018 Paris motor show.

The compact family-hauler ditches the daggy people-mover tag with updated styling and a raft of new tech normally seen on much more expensive vehicles.

The new B-Class wears the brand’s latest small car styling, scoring a longer wheelbase, lower roofline and cleaner silhouette with a sweeping lines.

Aerodynamic upgrades mean the B-Class creates less drag than some of the slipperiest supercars on the planet.

Mercedes-Benz spent a lot of time improving the B-Class’s aerodynamics.

However, the beauty is more than skin deep.

Inside, the new front seats move with the front occupants, using tech called energising seat kinetics — Mercedes-speak for ergonomic seats that adjust to the passengers’ minute movements and provide ideal support in all scenarios.

Upping its brain power, the B-Class adds the brand’s latest MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) infotainment technology.

Dual 10.25-inch displays dominate the interior layout.

MBUX is an intuitive digital assistant that uses artificial intelligence to learn a driver’s behaviour and adapt to it. For example MBUX learns that drivers prefer certain music or will make regular phone calls at certain times of the day and prompts the driver with these options.

The digital assistant can also be engaged by simply saying “Hey Mercedes” and then asking the technology to fulfil your request.

The dash is dominated by a pair of giant infotainment screens that display the car’s vitals and control all its infotainment and climate control functions.

The B-Class borrows semi-autonomous driving technology from the flagship S-Class sedan. The car employs a combination of cameras and radar to read the road and the traffic conditions up to 500m ahead.

The rear seats can fold flat to increase the B-Class’s cargo space.

Numerous active safety features include autonomous emergency braking, lane change assist and emergency assist which pulls the car over the side of the road and calls emergency services if it detects a prolonged period of driver inactivity.

Rear seats that fold flat create a large cargo hold, adding to the vehicle’s versatility.

Mercedes equips the B-Class with two petrol and three diesel engines.

The new B-Class is due to go on sale overseas in December with the compact family-hauler likely to hit local showrooms by mid-2019.