New Mercedes CLA: EV next year, ahead of hybrid in 2026
Mercedes has developed a brand new, “extremely efficient” electric powertrain for its Tesla Model 3 fighter
The next-generation electric Mercedes CLA is gearing up for its big reveal in March 2025, before a hybrid version appears some months later. We’ve got all you need to know about the sleek saloon below, including first impressions from the passenger seat of an early pre-production car.
The electric car will be the focus for Mercedes, at least initially. Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, project leader for the new CLA, Oliver Zolke, told us Mercedes “wanted to change the procedure” by launching the EV first. “[We] wanted to do things differently,” he said.
We’ve known for some time that the new CLA will introduce a new technological era for Mercedes, and now the brand, through its CEO Ola Källenius, has provided some more insights into the cutting-edge advancements that it will showcase.
For starters, the electric Mercedes CLA features a brand new powertrain that Mercedes developed from the ground up for its Tesla Model 3 rival. The system utilises a two-speed transmission – just like in the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT. This technology offers benefits for both performance and range in EVs.
Källenius said during a video where he’s driving a prototype of the new CLA, that the electric powertrain is “extremely efficient” and “with the two-speed transmission, we can perfectly calibrate, at every speed you’re driving, how that electric motor works and it makes it even more efficient”.
All-new MMA platform to debut in the CLA
The CLA will be the first of four all-new Mercedes ‘entry luxury’ cars based on a new platform called MMA (Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture). These are widely thought to be replacements for the CLA, CLA Shooting Brake, GLA and GLB, as well as their EQA and EQB electric equivalents. The platform was designed to be “electric first” and uses an 800V electrical system – that’s twice the capacity of current Teslas.
Two batteries will be offered – 58kWh and 85kWh – as well as a choice of single or dual motors. The former will boast 272bhp, while the 4MATIC model adds a 109bhp motor to the front axle for all-wheel drive. Mercedes hasn’t detailed combined output for the two motors.
That 800V layout should allow CLA drivers to restore around 300km (186 miles) in 10 minutes, at speeds of around 320kW. Timo Stegmaier, senior manager for the CLA’s electric drive system, said owners should be able to cover distances in excess of 750 miles with just two 10-minute charging stops.
Mercedes is targeting punchy efficiency of 12kWh/100km (roughly 5.2mi/kWh). Maximum range for the big-battery model stands at an estimated 466 miles.
But as we mentioned, Mercedes is having to hedge its bets and develop both electric and combustion models, because global demand for EVs is running at half the level the industry originally expected.
So to avoid making the CLA (and future MMA-based cars) irrelevant to a large chunk of the car-buying public, the Mercedes chairman told Auto Express earlier this year: “We will have the choice for consumers of electric vehicle, high-tech combustion and plug-in hybrid.” Not just that, he added that the CLA will use “world beating four-cylinder engines”.
Mercedes will keep developing its mild-hybrid four-cylinder petrol and plug-in hybrid engines, to keep them compliant with tightening European emissions regulations due in the next few years.
“It would never have made sense to cut-off our combustion business in Europe in 2027 in any scenario,” he told us. “Which means [we’ll offer a] powertrain portfolio from the brand-new, hi-tech, hybridised, world-beating four-cylinder that we're developing for the MMA platform, all the way up to the V8 that AMG customers love.”
CLA technology and safety
The upcoming baby Benz may be compact but it’ll be packed with technology, introducing the all-new Mercedes Operating System (MB.OS) and delivering leading-edge connected infotainment and autonomous driving.
Like most manufacturers these days, Mercedes has utilised artificial intelligence to take its virtual assistant up another level by providing more natural and intuitive interactions. Taken together, the MB.OS software “will make [the CLA] into the most intelligent car we’ve ever built,” says Källenius.
The brand’s boss previously told Auto Express that the next-generation CLA will be so hi-tech that it will be “safer than an S-Class”. Mercedes is the world’s first car maker to get Level 3 ‘eyes-off’ assisted driving approved by regulators in Germany and some US states, and in 2025 S-Class and EQS owners will be able to watch videos or email at the wheel while their vehicles cruise behind a lorry at up to 95kmh (59mph) on the autobahn.
And the CLA will build on this, with all the necessary hardware – cameras, LiDAR, sensors and back-up steering and braking systems – built into the architecture, ready to be activated by Over The Air software updates if a customer doesn’t specify the Drive Pilot 95 option at launch. The technology on board theoretically enables Mercedes to extend the use of autonomous driving into urban areas – assuming the technical and legislative barriers to this are overcome during the MMA cars’ lifecycles.
“The next-generation automated driving in the CLA will be the most sophisticated, the best assistant system that we have ever done, by a wide, wide margin,” said the boss. “As quickly as possible that would come back up into the S-Class: even though the one in today’s S-Class is probably the best in the world, the CLA will beat it.” At least until the new S-Class arrives on an updated version of today’s architecture by 2028.
In addition to all of this, Mercedes tells us it has been working hard on improving the CLA’s regenerative braking system. It’ll offer different levels of strength, with the most aggressive one-pedal setting capable of recuperating at a rate of up to 200kW.
CLA design
The design of the next-generation CLA will take inspiration from the Concept CLA Class, which was revealed in 2023. In a video shared by Mercedes, we get a very good look at the CLA’s sharp headlights with elements designed to mimic the three-pointed star badge, and these appear to flow into a light bar across the car’s nose.
It’s not hard to make out the shape of the wide front grille either, which, of course, has a large three-pointed star sitting pride of place in the centre. From the side, the new CLA looks very familiar, with similar proportions to the outgoing model, and the same rakish roofline. The production car’s rear lights look like they’ll closely match those of the Concept CLA Class.
Prices and future models
But all this style and tech will come at a price, with Mercedes mooting a starting figure of around £45,000 to £50,000 for the electric CLA. For context, the Tesla Model 3 starts from £39,990, while the BMW i4 has a base price of £51,270. Both will be direct rivals to the CLA EV when it goes on sale in 2025.
As we mentioned, the CLA is one of four models that will sit on Mercedes’ new MMA platform. The other three will be replacements for the GLA and GLB SUVs, and the CLA Shooting Brake estate – with Mercedes picking this portfolio to target the biggest global demand. That means the current Mercedes A-Class hatchback will not be replaced.
Auto Express spoke to Källenius at Mercedes’ Immendingen proving ground, where he’d earlier been driving the new CLA, and he told us: “We are preparing for the biggest product offensive in the company’s history, and we kick it off with the first car on the MMA architecture, the CLA.
“I’m ever so slightly biased, but it’s a fantastic car and it’s a new car that ushers in a new era. It’s going to be one new Mercedes vehicle after another from 2025 to 2028,” he said.
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