After about a year and a half filled with a concept car, prototype photos, multiple teasers, and tidbits of information, the new Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class has been revealed. For now, Mercedes is only showing the electric version, with the hybrid ones coming later. The final product, while a bit more conservative, still delivers on the slippery shape of the concept. It’s literally slippery, too, helping it achieve impressive range. Coupled with good power and lots of technology, Mercedes could have a winner on its hands.

Slinky On The Outside, Techy On The Inside

The basics of the CLA design are intact from the concept. It has a graceful, arcing shape, and smooth, rounded corners everywhere. It has full-width lighting both front and rear, and it even retains its numerous three-pointed stars. The headlights and taillights have one in each corner, and the grille has a whopping 142 of them. Plus, they’re illuminated. Where it differs is in the grille being smaller, and the fenders don’t have chrome trim to highlight the wheel arches. What’s really impressive, though, is how aerodynamic the shape is.

The CLA has a coefficient of drag of just 0.21. This is made possible not just by the body design, but also the carefully smoothed-out underside. Also worth noting is that the CLA has grown. It’s 2.4 inches longer overall than the last CLA, and its wheelbase is 1.6 inches longer.

Inside Is New, But Not Revolutionary

The interior is pretty close to the Concept CLA from 2023. It has a simple, flat, vertical dashboard punctuated by circular air vents. And behind the dark panel are screens. While not standard, Mercedes clearly designed this with its Superscreen in mind. When equipped, it includes a 10.25-inch instrument screen, a 14-inch infotainment screen, and a 14-inch passenger screen. It’s packed with quite a bit of technology, but we’ll get to that later. Apparently, Mercedes will also offer an array of interior trims including aluminum, wood, and one made from paper and hemp.

We’re not quite sure where the trim would go in the screen-dominated dash, but they sound nice. Perhaps they would be found more on the center console. It sits up fairly high and has an open section to provide a more airy feeling and some storage.

With the additional length, Mercedes claims an extra 0.4 inch of legroom for the front occupants. The standard glass roof helps with headroom, as Mercedes says it adds 0.6 inches for the front occupants and 1.1 inches for the rear. Weirdly, the trunk actually got smaller. It’s down to 14.3 cubic feet of the previous model’s 16.2. It does make up for that somewhat by now having a 2.5 cubic-foot frunk.

Good Performance, Better Range

Two versions of the electric CLA will be offered, each with absurdly long names. The base model is officially called the CLA 250+ with EQ Technology. The same suffix is appended to the CLA 350. The base model gets a single rear motor making 268 horsepower and 247 lb-ft of torque. As previously revealed, the motor is paired with a two-speed gearbox. The first gear with an 11:1 ratio is for acceleration, and then it can shift to the 5:1 second gear for efficiency and to reach its 130 mph top speed. That rear motor will also get the 4,550-pound CLA 250+ to 60 in 6.6 seconds.

The CLA 350 gets a second motor. This one makes 107 horsepower on its own, and it brings total output to 349 hp and 380 lb-ft of torque. It does not have a two-speed transmission, and it simply provides power when demanded, either by the driver’s right foot or by slipping rear wheels. Otherwise, it disconnects for greater efficiency. The extra motor does add a fair amount of weight, bringing the CLA 350 up to 5,677 pounds. Still, the extra output lets it out-accelerate the 250 with a claimed 0-60 mph time of 4.8 seconds. It has the same top speed, too.

Both CLAs use the same 85-kWh battery pack. It’s a nickel-manganese-cobalt lithium-ion battery with an 800-volt architecture. Mercedes claims that the energy density has improved by 20% thanks to combining silicon oxide with the graphite used in the battery anodes. The company also claims that the battery uses less cobalt as well, plus a reduction in the carbon footprint of the battery manufacturing process by 30%.

The high-voltage design enables charging rates as high as 320 kW. The range may be the most impressive aspect, achieved with the aerodynamic aids, increased energy density, and other efficiency measures such as the standard heat pump. Take it with a grain of salt, since only WLTP numbers have been given, and the US numbers will certainly be lower. However, the 492-mile maximum range of the 250, and the 479-mile range of the 350 are still excellent.

Gilded With Gizmos

Running on all those screens is the latest MBUX system with the MB.OS operating system. Mercedes touts the integration of AI tools from Google and ChatGPT that will help understand more complex requests and search the internet for answers. Mercedes even says the system will be able to recognize if you’re upset or happy, and will show its understanding by lighting up green for positive feelings, and orange or negative feelings. It didn’t say if it would adjust its responses much beyond that, though.

Mercedes has also implemented its upgraded navigation system. It can display and highlight objects and locations on the map and augmented reality display. It also calculates routes with range and charging in mind, finding stations and planning how many stops would be fastest.

Entertainment is another highlight of the CLA’s interior. It will support Disney+ and Sony’s RIDEVU movie and TV streaming services. They can be viewed on the passenger screen at any time, and on the center screen when the car is parked. The CLA also supports Boosteroid, a game streaming service, plus game controller support. So if you’d rather interact with your media than just view it, that’s an option, too.

Coming Soon

The CLA will go on sale this year. Only the electric versions will be offered first. The hybrid versions will come sometime after. Pricing has yet to be announced. We’ll also be looking for additional information about other features, such as the hands-free driving assist Mercedes previously talked about.