Ahead of its expected debut at the NAIAS (North American International Auto Show) in Detroit next month, some official imagery of the new Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class has emerged on the internet.
In the never ending battle for German manufacturers to find a new niche within a niche, Mercedes-Benz may have hit onto a real winner here in the form of their compact, four-door, sports saloon. Think of it as a miniaturised CLS-Class that runs on compact A-Class and B-Class underpinnings. We have to say, in these images at least, it is one serious little head-turner is the CLA-Class.
As mentioned, it will be the first member of Mercedes-Benz’s extended family of compact models and, naturally, the engines will also be shared with the A-Class hatchback offering consumers a variety of turbocharged four-cylinder CDI diesel and regular (180 and 200) petrol engines.
Included in the line-up, amongst others, is a 155 kW, 2.0-litre for the CLA 250 BlueEFFICIENCY, and then the heavily tuned version for the all-wheel drive CLA 45 AMG. Not only will the engines be shared across the new platforms, but so will the drivetrains. That means, this low, sleek, little head-turner from Mercedes-Benz will be front-wheel drive. Sacrilege to most Benz fanatics we know, but Stuttgart has pre-empted the potential fallout by offering optional 4MATIC all-wheel drive on all models in the range, not just the 45 AMG model.
The CLA-Class looks to have inherited a lot of its design cues from its original show car, the ‘Style Concept Coupe’, including the “floating dots” front grille and almost aquamarine-inspired tail-lights. When viewed from the front three quarter, the rippled bonnet line is mirrored in the flame surfaced lines that run across the doors.
The angular, up-lifted headlights give the car a more aggressive appearance than the regular A- and B-Class. Around the back, the small four-door sedan comes with a CLS derived rear end shape, a curved boot-lid with subtle spoiler and a sculpted bumper with openings for the two rectangular exhausts.
What can we say, we think it looks absolutely great and we can’t think of any other German manufacturer which offers anything like it. Cue BMW and Audi feverishly making a compact saloon car out of their respective 1-Series and A3 models.
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