Blueprint for new model family
Meet the Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA. The Concept CLA is a sleek, fully electric compact sedan that shows what you can expect from the future CLA, but also provides a glimpse of what’s going on in Mercedes-Benz’s EV kitchen.
Mercedes-Benz will be cutting back on its model range in the coming years. There are automotive victims, especially lower down the brand’s status ladder. For example, there will be no successors for the A and B classes. The CLA seems to be spared, but it does appear that the car is heading for a fully electric future. Mercedes-Benz presents the Concept CLA to the public during the Munich IAA. This car does exactly what its name suggests and a little more. According to Mercedes-Benz, it is a close to reality and therefore concrete preview of a ‘new family of models’. That family will consist of a four-door coupe (CLA), Shooting Brake (CLA Shooting Brake) and two SUVs. The latter two may be the successors to the current and recently facelifted EQA and EQB.
Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA
Although the Concept CLA is still a study model, it is crystal clear which direction Mercedes-Benz wants to take with the CLA. Mercedes-Benz expressly presents the concept car as an ‘electric hypermiler’. The Concept CLA is already on the all-new Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture (MMA). This is a new modular basis that compact and medium-sized EVs from Mercedes-Benz will use. The current CLA, with its Cd value of 0.23, is already quite known as a slippery rascal, so the Germans also pride themselves on the ease with which it can cut through the air with this Concept CLA. In addition, according to Mercedes-Benz, the Concept CLA should also be particularly efficient, partly because it has taken a close look at the Vision EQXX. Mercedes-Benz calls the Concept CLA ‘the one-litre car’ of today and speaks of an electric consumption of 12 kWh/100 kilometers.
Although the MMA basis under this Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA is not reserved for electric cars, electric powertrains have been at the top of the priority list during its development. The study model should be able to travel up to 750 kilometers on a full but unspecified battery. Cars at the MMA base can fast charge at 250 kW thanks to the 800V on-board voltage. The Concept CLA should be able to charge enough for 400 kilometers of driving fun in fifteen minutes. The study model has a 328 hp electric motor that – probably – drives the front wheels, although Mercedes-Benz says that the base is also suitable for four-wheel drive. The Concept CLA must also be able to charge bidirectionally. Energy can therefore also leave the car.
Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA
From the outside in
The exterior of the Concept CLA is of course also interesting. Viewed from the side, the Concept CLA hardly breaks with what you know of the four-door CLA, but the front and rear are completely new for Mercedes-Benz. The show car has striking round headlights and taillights. Just like the rear lights of the new E-class, the rear light units of the Concept CLA contain a star. The rear lights are visually tied together by a horizontal LED strip that goes around the corner of the car and extends far into the rear doors. The headlights also consist of semicircles with a star in them and here too we see a horizontal stripe that is not afraid to leave the front. By the way, we seem to see a recess around the headlights and taillights where – with some imagination – larger, more traditional light units can fit.
Also striking is the large closed ‘grille’ that is placed at the bottom of the snout like a kind of gaping maw. In it we see a large Mercedes star, but also dozens – if not hundreds – of small stars. Mercedes-Benz also places a logo on top of the front lid. The Concept CLA has aerodynamic 21-inch wheels, a panoramic glass roof and handles recessed into the doors. Mercedes-Benz seems to see lighting as the new way to provide its cars with details.
Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA
The Concept CLA also has a striking interior. At the corners of the dashboard we see an evolution of the current round ventilation grilles. Furthermore, almost the entire dashboard consists of a black panel containing the instruments, the infotainment screen (MBUX Superscreen) and a display for the co-driver. No more ‘loose’ screen in the center console. The screens also run MB.OS, a new version of Mercedes’ infotainment software.
No future vision or new model without a passage about the use of environmentally friendly materials and so we also read that the Concept CLA contains ‘sustainable tanned leather, paper covering’ and ‘CO2-free steel’.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl