New Mercedes A Class to spawn electric version made by Tesla

New Mercedes A Class EV on the way via Tesla

It would appear that Mercedes-Benz are planning an electric version of the new Mercedes A Class with a powertrain by Tesla.

The new Mercedes A Class arrived at the Geneva Motor Show in March as the Mercedes answer to the BMW 1 Series, and a very convincing new A Class it looks too.

From an entry-level A Class which will get a Renault 1.5 litre dCi lump to deliver a sub-99g/km model all the way up (eventually) to a 4WD, 300bhp AMG A Class, it looks like the new A Class will cover the bases for every buyer, and then some.

And now it appears that the new A Class will also provide a solution for those with more money than sense and who want to drive an EV, with news that Mercedes has reached a deal with Tesla to produce the powertrain for a new Mercedes A Class EV.

Details are scarce, but it has been revealed that Daimler has entered in to an agreement with Tesla to produce a ‘Full electric powertrain program for a vehicle in the Mercedes line’ in a deal that Tesla’s CFO said was worth ‘more than $280 million’.

Tesla has already produced an EV powertrain for Mercedes with the Smart EV (although it went to for batteries from Deutsche Automotive and a motor from Bosch in the latest Smart ED) and has done a similar job for Toyota with the Toyota RAV4 EV which hits the road this summer.

We have no time-scale for the A Class EV arriving, but with the normal ICE A Class not arriving until later this year we’re probably looking at 2014 before Tesla has the powertrain ready for Mercedes to lunch a new electric A Class.