Thursday 21st November 2013

Mercedes GLA45 AMG Concept announced

Looks like the Macan Turbo has another rival already...

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Bereft of its blingy rims, 'sporty' wrap and the iffy graphics, this is the Mercedes GLA45 AMG we all knew was on its way. Oh sure, Mercedes has christened the car you see here the 'Concept GLA 45', but it's fooling nobody. See the not-so-drastic transition from Concept GLA to production GLA, and CSC Beijing to regular CLA.

Rollin' on 21s, as you do

As you would expect, the GLA45 AMG uses the same 360hp, 332lb ft 2.0-litre turbo as the A45 and CLA45. It is four-wheel drive too, of course, and Mercedes claims it will hit 62mph in less than five seconds. We would assume the SUV is as capable as the hatch of 155mph, although the claimed 40mpg of the A45 will probably drop a tad.

The 'powerful and muscular' presence of the AMG GLA Concept will largely be carried over to the production model. The more aggressive bumpers, side skirts and diffuser will surely make the transition, and the exhaust pipes look very similar to those on the A45. That wild spoiler and red-rimmed, erm, rims may be reserved for another Edition 1 AMG. We can but hope.

We don't want to say jacked-up A45 but...

Can the contemporary AMG magic be extended to another niche? AMG boss Tobias Moers is pitching the car at a 'strongly growing market segment of compact SUVs' and a target customer group focused on 'styling, dynamism and independence'. Given there's already an Audi RS Q3 and the Alpina XD3 on sale, plus the Macan Turbo on its way, the very fast compact SUV is a burgeoning sector. Expect a massively un-PC group test sometime in 2014...

Mercedes has unveiled the GLA45 AMG Concept at LA. Dan is already out there so we should have some more details imminently.

[Source: Autocar]

 

 

[Maldini35]

Typical of modern Mercedes - tacky and ostentatious.

[PascalBuyens]

Title: Mercedes CLA45 AMG Concept announced...

Old news PH???

[james_tigerwoods]

Holy crap - That looks awful....

[Axionknight]

Ever seen that episode of The Simpsons where Bart goes under a big rig on his skateboard? That A45 looks like he'd fit under it no problem as well, it just looks wrong.

[DUMBO100]

I thought that the GLA might be quite nice, that is horrific

[Amirhussain]

I don't get it , I thought the CLA45 AMG was a saloon?

[Tomatogti]

Target customer group contains the word independence. Really??? Couldn't be less so.

[Hellbound]

From a performance perspective, this is everything the Juke Nismo RS isn't.

[Axel350Z]

looks better than the A45 AMG...

[veevee]

Amirhussain said:

I don't get it , I thought the CLA45 AMG was a saloon?

GLA, typo in the title.

[Escort Si-130]

PH you need to proof read, spell check cant do the title, lol. It should be GLA not CLA, it confused me for a second.

[loudlashadjuster]

Escort Si-130 said:

PH you need to proof read.

Full stop.

[dukebox9reg]

I think if you look past the stupid graphics and spoilers and make it into a nice gun grey or deep metallic red I would actually say this is a nice looking car.

I'm rubbish at photoshop so won't even bother.

[Oz83]

I really can't get my head around this new niche. How can adding weight and increasing the ride height be a good thing for a performance road car? It's not like it can go off road, and it is no more practical than the 'normal height' A45. Who buys these things?

[dukebox9reg]

Oz83 said:

I really can't get my head around this new niche. How can adding weight and increasing the ride height be a good thing for a performance road car? It's not like it can go off road, and it is no more practical than the 'normal height' A45. Who buys these things?

There is one advantage to these 'higher' cars.

BADGERS

I hit one the other night on my Countryman. All it did was unclip some lower trim and crack my brake duct. If I was in a standard Mini there would have been no bumper left.

So Badgers.

[matrignano]

People keep getting confused and putting the GLA, Q3, X3, Macan all in the same segment - they are not!
GLA, Q3, X1
GLK, Q5, X3, Macan
ML, Q7, X5, Cayenne
etc.

[elephantstone]

matrignano said:

People keep getting confused and putting the GLA, Q3, X3, Macan all in the same segment - they are not!
GLA, Q3, X1
GLK, Q5, X3, Macan
ML, Q7, X5, Cayenne
etc.

Yup.

[n4aat]

Wheels look too big. They make the brakes look tiddly.

[FisiP1]

matrignano said:

People keep getting confused and putting the GLA, Q3, X3, Macan all in the same segment - they are not!
GLA, Q3, X1
GLK, Q5, X3, Macan
ML, Q7, X5, Cayenne
etc.

Only thing that surprised me recently was discovering that the Q7=Cayenne, the Q7 always looks about twice the size on the road to me.

[zeppelin101]

Oz83 said:

I really can't get my head around this new niche. How can adding weight and increasing the ride height be a good thing for a performance road car? It's not like it can go off road, and it is no more practical than the 'normal height' A45. Who buys these things?

People who want a smallish car but want to sit an extra 2ft higher to lord it over all the peasants in their saloons and hatchbacks.

Until they get dwarfed by a full fat SUV.

Purely style over substance. But it's making the manufacturer's a lot of money!