The new Mercedes-Benz B-Class Reveal - Speech Britta Seeger

What a great team to have here on stage. Our team of the compact cars. We introduced our very first compact car back in 1997. The following year, France won for the first time the soccer World Cup here in Paris. And with the all-new A-Class, we introduced the front runner of our new compact family earlier this year. A very good omen again for the French national team, as we now know. Our compact cars are champions too. Over the past two decades, more than six million members of our growing compact team have found their way onto the streets and into the hearts of our owners. More than half of their buyers in Europe drove a competitor car before joining our club. Here in France, our compacts were a major driver in making 2017 a record year for us. They accounted for about 50% of our local sales. No wonder we decided to expand our compact car lineup from 5 to 8 models. And after an intense training program, our new compacts are as fit and strong as never before. Just take these two new stars here. First up, our new A-Class sedan is the most progressive A-Class ever, and it's a world champion as well. It wins the trophy for best aerodynamics of any series production car. Ha! The best part: this wasn't achieved at the expense of the passengers. The headroom is the best in its segment. Even the tallest passenger doesn't need to duck their head. The next model in line up is fast, it's agile, and it always delivers top performance. The A35 is our very own striker and the new entry into the world of Mercedes-AMG. It's also a logical extension of our portfolio since we introduced the first compact AMG model with the A45 in 2013. Customer demand surpassed our wildest expectations. It has been our most successful AMG model in France ever since. The A35 will build on their success. And now, to win a soccer match, you need to have a strong and flexible midfield, and that brings me to our all-new B-Class. With over 1.5 million units sold since we first launched this model in 2005, it is a star on its own right. How will its new versions appeal to our customers? First, it looks better than ever, and its fresh and sporty design ensures the best aerodynamics in its segment. Plus, the B-Class comes with a new interior design. Just look at the characteristic instrument panel. Goal number two: the new B-Class makes your life easier. We listened carefully to what our customers told us and adjusted our game plan accordingly. As a result, the new B-Class features better all-around vision, more elbow and head space, and optimized trunk usability, among many other things. Of course, the B-Class now also comes with our MBUX. The young love it for its extensive capabilities, and the young at heart love the fact that it's still extremely easy to use. And everybody will enjoy new features like our Mercedes me connect service for finding a parking space, for example. So as you can see, the new B-Class is in top shape, and it will also support your fitness and health. The seat moves ever so slightly to prevent you from sitting in one position for too long. This reduces the risk of back problems. In addition, this car now has an onboard coach. It analyzes the traffic situation, weather conditions, and duration of travel to suggest a suitable energizing comfort program to make you feel good. And we are the first ones to combine such a feature with the use of vitals taken from your wearable. As you would expect of Mercedes-Benz, we've also stepped up in terms of safety. The active safety system in our B-Class are at S-Class level, with the active brake assist now also keeping an eye for crossing pedestrians and bikers. To sum it up, our new B-Class is a top player in our lineup, and the same goes for the next car coming up. More about this from Ola.