New Mercedes CLA won’t be just ELECTRIC- it’ll be available with ICE power too

The new Mercedes CLA will be the first car on the new MMA Platform for EVs, but Mercedes has decided to offer it with ICE power too.

Mercedes-Benz has been busy developing a new MMA Platform for its entry-level ‘luxury’ cars, and it’ll appear first with the arrival of the new CLA, the production version of the Mercedes CLA Concept we saw last year which Mercedes said was the start of a four-car range of entry-level EVs including Shooting Brake and a pair of SUVs.

Now we get to see a camouflaged version of the CLA and some details of what its powertrain will offer, and it’s not going to be EV-only as Mercedes gets real about the sales potential of its EVs.

The electric CLA, says Mercedes, has the potential to deliver 5.18mpkWh and comes with an 800V architecture for charging speeds up to 320kW and will be offered with either 58kWh or 85kWh battery which should mean, for the 85kWh battery, range of around 450 miles.

A new 268bhp motor at the back is the standard option, but the 4Matic versions come with an additional 107bhp motor at the front which only engages when needed.

The ICE option is a newly-developed 1.5-litre four-pot designed to be compact enough to shoehorn into what is essentially an electric car platform and will deliver 134bhp or 161bhp through the front axle or 188bhp to all four wheels on the CLA 4Matic.

The gearbox, a 27bhp electric motor and inverter are all housed in a single unit, with the electric motor also acting as a starter motor and can power the car alone for short distances with a 1.3kWh 48V battery.

Expect more details of the new CLA to be revealed ahead of a debut in the next few months.