Mercedes-Benz A-Class comes to Hollywood, but not to stay

The Mercedes-Benz A-Class wowed us at the Geneva Motor Show with its handsome styling and luxe interior fitment, so much so that we wondered aloud if this is the new family of small cars that Daimler has promised the U.S. market for 2013. According to a firsthand tip, the A-Class has already made a trip to Hollywood for a close-up. Taking advantage of the well-established motion picture industry, Mercedes-Benz sent its small wonder to Los Angeles for a 5-day working vacation to shoot a commercial.

Camera department pro Nic Restrepo tells Autoblog:

"This is such an awesome car! WAY nicer and better looking than its competition (A3...). This AMG-badged model had all the big Benz amenities; Self Park assist, lane departure, blind spot warning, Alcantara covered racing seats, dual clutch trans etc. The interior on this thing is head and shoulders above ANY compact I've ever worked with. The dash has this beautiful carbon fiber cloth that's soft to the touch like suede, and it's layed on like a fabric, feels like a pillow...a carbon fiber pillow."

It looked great while being chased around by the Pursuit Systems ML63, and the A-Class made a good impression with the driver hired to fling the car around for the shoot. All who laid eyes upon the car seem to agree with our impression from the show floor, that there's a lot of big-Benz nice packed into an exciting small package. Disappointingly, though, the little Benz's corporate minders told the crew that the car is not headed to the U.S. Whether that's a ruse or the truth, we'll soon find out as Mercedes still has a couple tricks up its sleeve as the auto show season winds down.