Categorized | New Models

Mercedes-Benz CLA – In a League of Its Own

Mercedes-Benz CLA - In a League of Its Own

Official word on the Mercedes-Benz CLA four-door coupe is now out. After months of viewing camouflaged pictures of the CLA, Mercedes finally decided to alleviate us of our pain and show us the final product and just in time for the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) too.

The Mercedes-Benz CLA build on or rather follows on the success of the CLS and with it’s frameless doors astonishingly closely resembles the design of the Concept Style Coupe.

We already like the styling of the new A-Class which was a welcome departure from the previous generation A-Class, and we feel that Mercedes will definitely attract a new type of buyer with the CLA. This is well alluded to by Dr Joachim Schmidt, Executive Vice President Mercedes-Benz Cars,  Sales and Marketing, who stated that “We aim to reach new target groups with the CLA – including those who never intended driving a Mercedes.”

In keeping with its sporty positioning, the CLA is available with high-torque turbo engines ranging from 90kW up to 155 kW, sports suspension and 4MATIC all-wheel drive.

The technical highlights of this new design icon include a new world record in aerodynamics for series production automobiles (Cd value: 0.22) and numerous driving assistance systems, including advanced COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST (a radar-based braking system).

Five lines and packages which vary greatly in character are available to individualise the striking compact mid-range coupé. We’ll let the pictures do the talking here.

The exterior’s progressive, sporty appearance is continued inside the vehicle where a careful pairing and selection of high quality materials leads a well-executed interior.

You know what; we’ll let the pictures do the talking here. The car just looks striking. We hope the drive is as good as the car looks. But from what we can see from the engine specs we don’t think it will be a disappointment (we hope).

The petrol engines with a displacement of 1.6 and 2.0 litres cover an output spectrum ranging from 90 kW in the CLA 180 through 115 kW in the CLA 200 to 155 kW in the CLA 250. The two diesel engines combine dynamic low-end torque with the utmost efficiency: the  CLA 200 CDI generates 100 kW, with maximum torque of 300 Nm. With a cubic capacity of 2.2 litres, the CLA 220 CDI will offer an output of 125 kW and 350 Nm of torque, emitting only 109 g CO2 per kilometre.

All the engines feature the ECO start/stop function as standard. The engines are combined with a six-speed manual transmission or with the 7G-DCT dual clutch automatic transmission, which reconciles comfort and sportiness in inimitable fashion.

In keeping with the digital lifestyle of the CLA’s social media-savvy target group, smartphones can additionally be fully integrated into the vehicle’s display and operating system.

Daimler’s Digital Drive Style app concept, which together with the Drive Kit Plus for the iPhone® enables seamless integration of the iPhone® into the vehicle, has been extended. The highlights include Siri voice control and Glympse real-time location sharing. Glympse enables the user to share his or her current location with selected persons. Other functions are Facebook®, Twitter®, internet radio, AUPEO!™ Personal Radio and the advanced navigation solution from Garmin® with web-based real-time traffic information, online special destination search including Street View™ and 3D map display.

European orders begin with immediate effect with first deliveries scheduled for April 2013. We will keep our ears to the ground for the South African launch and let you know as soon as we find out.

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