Mercedes GLA SUV UK launch down a salt mine in Cheshire

The Mercedes GLA Compact SUV has had its UK launch running round the tunnels of the UK’s biggest salt mine at Winsford in Cheshire.

Photo new Mercedes GLA down a salt mine in Cheshire

The new Mercedes GLA down a salt mine in Cheshire

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Trying to find an unusual venue for new car launches is something that taxes the brains of car PR teams, and Mercedes came up with somewhere a little left field for the launch of the new GLA Compact SUV – the UK’s biggest salt mine at Winsford in Cheshire.

The Winsford Rock Salt Mines – 130 miles of salt mining tunnels running under Cheshire – are the result of salt mining since the 19th century and now comprise of 130 miles of tunnels some 189 metres below ground, a void beneath the earth of 23 million cubic metres.

Still a working salt mine, Winsford is also home to a massive storage facility for, among others, the National Archive, where constant temperatures of 14C make for an ideal storage environment.

Mercedes thought it would be a bit of a hoot to tip the GLAs on their nose to get them down Winsford’s lift shaft so the invited throng could blat through the vast network of tunnels, at the same time demonstrating that the GLA can manage a bit of soft roading on the broken floors of the mine.

The Mercedes GLA – the high-riding sibling of the new A-Class – is now on sale in the UK from £25,080 for the GLA 200 CDI.