Beijing manufactured GLK sighted out testing packing 1.8T

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Mercedes are the big loser of the German three in China, Audi are traditionally the weakest brand but their early arrival in China secured them the biggest slice of the pie. Mercedes sold 147,670 cars in China 2010, whilst BMW sold 158,489, Audi out trumped them with sales of 220,000 vehicles. Mercedes realizes that China is a major market and plans to introduce more locally made models to boost sales, its current Chinese made line up consists of just the C-Class and the E-Class sedans, Mercedes are likely to introduce the A-Class or the B-Class as a locally made product in the next year or so, as well as other niche models such as the C-Class wagon. The GLK is at the forefront of Mercedes plans to turn their disadvantage into an advantage, the model is undergoing production with their partner Beijing Auto and should be on the market as a locally made product within the year.

Now here’s the kicker, in the North American market the GLK gets a 3.0L V6, in China the imported model gets the same block, but the locally made model will have to make do with the 1.8T sourced from the C-Class. It’s not entirely clear yet how the GLK will be priced, here’s hoping it will be price competitive against the Audi Q5 which is priced from 370,000rmb rising for the 2.0T model, a rear wheel drive (2WD) GLK is likely to be priced lower than the Q5 when launched.

Get ready for this models unveiling at the Shanghai Auto Show next week.