The new Mercedes CLA45 AMG has arrived! Well, sort of. While the car won’t officially be revealed until next week’s New York Motor Show, an extensive set of high-resolution images have arrived on the internet courtesy of a Russian
automotive imagery website
CLA45 shares visual cues with A45
Until now, all we’ve been treated to has been a partial reveal in the form of
an image
taken from upcoming computer game Driveclub, which features the CLA45. Whether this latest leak is ‘official’ or genuinely unintended is hard to say, but what is for sure is that nothing about the new car is left to the imagination, with the new hot CLA pictured from every angle and in fantastically high resolution. And it’s pretty much what we were expecting, too – an aggressive body kit, reminiscent of that fitted to the
CLA250 Sport
, but with a smattering of gloss black to set the full-fat AMG apart. Inside, meanwhile, a swathe of carbon fibre will dominate the dash, while stitching, seatbelts and detailing all in red will add to the 'schporty' ambience. The pictures also suggest, as we’d have expected, that the CLA45 will share the
A45 AMG
’s four-pot front brake calipers and 350mm front brake discs.
Interior to feature splashes of red
That’s not all it’ll share, of course – while production details have yet to be confirmed officially, the CLA45 looks set to use the same drivetrain as the A45, which means a 360hp 2.0-litre turbo, a Haldex-based 4Matic four-wheel-drive system, and the seven-speed dual-clutch Speedshift transmission. That should mean a 0-62 time somewhere in the region of 4.6 seconds, and a max speed limiter set at 155mph. And, if
Tobias Moers
– AMG’s chassis development guru – is to be believed, it’ll also mean the chassis and 4Matic system have been set up to allow you to have some fun with a gentle bias toward oversteer, rather than to promote outright grip uber alles. Jolly good.
Keep an eye out for more details, and full confirmation of the CLA45’s spec, as we get them next week.