2025 Mercedes CLA revealed: sleek new executive car majors on efficiency

Like its predecessor, the new Mercedes CLA is a four-door saloon with a rakish, coupé-like roofline, but this time it offers a choice of electric or hybrid power...

Published13 March 2025

On sale Summer | Price from £45,000 (est)

The new Mercedes CLA is the first model to be built on the brand’s new MMA mechanicals, and that’s appropriate, because it’s a car that’s positively spoiling for a fight. However, in this instance MMA actually stands for Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture rather than Mixed Martial Arts.

No matter. The MMA hardware represents a dramatic change in approach for Mercedes, because it has been designed to underpin both fully electric cars (EVs) and hybrids without leaving either compromised. By contrast, the electric Mercs currently on sale have little in common under the skin with their fuel-sipping equivalents, and yet some still suffer from practicality issues.

Even if this wasn’t the case, though, it would be easy to see the logic behind MMA: why go to the effort and expense of engineering separate oily bits for EVs when you don’t need to, and at a time when it’s hard to predict what the sales balance between petrol and electric is going to be over the next few years. In fact, arch-rival BMW came to the same conclusion a few years ago, and that hasn’t stopped its EVs from impressing us.

Beyond ushering in this new direction for Mercedes, the new CLA promises a stepchange in capability. It has already broken the record for the longest distance travelled by an EV in 24 hours, after managing 2410 miles – the equivalent of driving from London to Naples and back again. And the main reason it was able to do that is its efficiency. Indeed, Mercedes claims that the version of the new CLA that set the record – one featuring a 268bhp electric motor, rear-wheel drive and an 85kWh battery – should be capable of a real-world efficiency figure of 5.1 miles/kWh.

That would be even more impressive than the 4.4 miles/kWh we got out of the latest Tesla Model 3 RWD during our most recent summer range test. So, how has Mercedes (apparently, at least) achieved this? Well, for starters, the CLA’s small side mirrors, flush door handles and curved surfaces help it slip through the air easily; it has a drag coefficient of just 0.21, compared with 0.23 for the Model 3. What’s more, electric CLAs benefit from a two-speed gearbox (like you get in the far pricier Audi E-tron GT and Porsche Taycan), which helps to ease the strain on the motor at higher speeds.

Other versions of the electric CLA (or CLA with EQ Technology, to use its not-exactly-catchy official name) include a cheaper model that combines the same motor with a 58kWh battery. Or, if you want sports car acceleration, there’s a four-wheel-drive CLA 4Matic with the bigger battery and an extra electric motor on the front axle pumping out an additional 107bhp.

Full performance figures are still to be confirmed, but the CLA 4Matic can blast from 0-62mph in just 4.9sec – fractionally quicker than a Model 3 Long Range. What’s more, Mercedes is quoting a preliminary range figure of 492 miles for the 85kWh rear-wheel-drive model and 478 miles for the 4Matic.

Now, usually we’d expect four-wheel drive to result in a much greater drop, but the 4Matic has a further party trick: it can decouple its front electric motor when you’re just cruising. This is said to reduce energy losses by 90%. In addition, all electric CLAs get a heat pump as standard to warm up their interiors efficiently in cold weather. And because Mercedes has used an 800-volt architecture in the car, it can be charged at rates of up to 320kW – so if you can find a public charger capable of delivering that, a 10-80% top-up could take as little as 10 minutes.

But what if you aren’t ready to take the plunge into EV ownership or an EV just doesn’t fit into your lifestyle? Well, that’s why the CLA can also be specified with a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that’s mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox, a tiny, 1.3kWh battery and an even tinier electric motor. While this is technically a mild hybrid set-up, Mercedes claims it still allows you to run on electric power alone for several miles at speeds of up to 62mph.

There are three power outputs to choose from: 134bhp, 161bhp and 188bhp. However, a plug-in hybrid CLA isn’t planned, because that would push the cost up. And besides, it’s claimed you’re already going to be getting diesel-like fuel economy with the mild hybrid.

Despite all the technical differences, the CLA actually looks a lot like the bigger Mercedes EQE and Mercedes EQS electric saloons on the outside. But inside it pushes the boundaries again, with it being the first car to get the brand’s fourth-generation MBUX infotainment system.

This is the first system in the automotive industry to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) from both Google and Microsoft. Meanwhile, the voice control virtual assistant system uses ChatGPT 4.0 in an effort to help it better understand your commands. And you know what? During our limited time with it in a studio, it worked well.

It’s joined by a new touchscreen layout that was clearly inspired by the iOS operating system on Apple phones; you can even drag the various apps into position and combine them into themed folders in the same way. But while this makes it intuitive (at least for anyone with an iPhone), it would still be easier to operate on the move if it were backed up by physical buttons and dials; instead, even the climate controls are on the screen.

To one side of this main touchscreen sits a digital display for the driver, while on the other there’s the option to specify an entertainment screen on which a front passenger can play games or watch films. What’s odd is that this can also be seen by the driver in their peripheral vision. While this has the potential to be distracting, a driver attention monitor automatically switches the passenger’s screen off if the driver is caught looking directly at it.

The presence of all those screens contributes to the interior’s wow factor, but then most Mercedes interiors have plenty of showroom appeal. More of a problem in recent years has been quality, with too many of its models featuring disappointing plastics and creaky dashboards.

Mercedes has clearly attempted to address these criticisms in the CLA; the materials in the areas that you touch regularly are pleasingly tactile and everything feels reassuringly solid.

Similarly, while the outgoing CLA was short on head room, this has been improved for the new car by borrowing an idea from Tesla; all CLAs have a glass roof that stretches right back past the rear seats and ditches the traditional head room-robbing shutter.

The floor in the back of the CLA is a little higher than it ideally would be (presumably to make room for a battery beneath), with this forcing taller adults to sit with their knees pushed up high. But there is enough space for six-footers to fit behind similarly tall front seat occupants without feeling cramped. Plus, they won’t have any trouble keeping their electrical devices topped up, because there are two USB-C charging sockets in the back of the car.

The practicality of electric CLAs is further enhanced by these having under-bonnet storage so that you don’t have to keep the charging cable in the main boot with the rest of your luggage. Indeed, the CLA is the first Mercedes EV to get this handy feature.

Pricing is still to be confirmed, but Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius has said that savings of up 30% in battery production costs will allow electric variants to have “roughly similar pricing” to their hybrid equivalents. As a result, we’d expect both to be positioned between the Model 3 (which costs from £39,990) and the BMW i4 (£51,270).

If this makes it harder for you to decide which CLA to go for, though, one thing that might help the electric version to deliver a knock-out blow is that deliveries will start this summer, whereas you’ll have to wait until early next year if you want a hybrid.