Thursday 28th March 2013

Mercedes CLA45 AMG: New York Motor Show

Can't take the idea of an AMG hot hatch? Try the A45-based 'baby CLS' CLA45 AMG instead...

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The new A45 AMG is a big step for Mercedes' performance brand and if you can't quite stomach the thought of a hot hatch here's the coupe/saloon version, the CLA45 AMG making its debut here at the New York show.

One exhaust pipe per cylinder for CLA45

We knew it was coming of course, AMG development man Tobias Moers confirming as much as he talked us round the A45 at Geneva but New York is an earlier debut for the hot version of the CLA than we expected. And, yes, it's basically a shrunken CLS AMG. With a four-cylinder turbocharged engine and four-wheel drive of course.

Like the A45, the CLA45 gets a 360hp turbo four-cylinder built under AMG's 'one man, one engine' policy and driving through a Haldex style four-wheel drive chassis. As previously described, AMG is confident it's got around the 'reactive' style of power distribution usually associated with such systems and Moers and his team has been working hard to ensure the kind of response and, yes, sideways ability for which AMGs are known. Up to a point of course.

Halving the traditional cylinder count is a huge emotional leap for AMG of course, the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission at least less of a question mark for a brand that's only ever offered self shifters. Downsizing it may be but if lacking in displacement the new engine hits back with an astounding 180hp per litre specific output, 0-62mph coming up in 4.6 seconds and top speed limited to 155mph. With, of course, 39.7mpg and CO2 of 165g/km.

Squint hard and it could be a CLS63...

In the flesh the AMG additions - traditional quad exhausts included - bulk out the slightly under-wheeled lines of the base CLA and as conventional market boundaries blur and the tuning division breaks into new sectors the CLA45 is the car to do it, especially in a market where hot hatches are still a novelty. Will American AMG customers buy into turbo four-cylinder saloons though? Stateside AMG product manager Rob Moran says yes, the sub-$50,000 price point at least $10,000 less than the existing 'entry level' to the brand, the C63. And accessibility to an AMG for a new, younger wave of customers is, reckons Mercedes, the way to guarantee a steady flow of customers further up the range into the V8 cars.

[911F]

I'm sure this has been answered before.

Why is it A '45'

Why not A35 or A40 or A43? or even A36

[A3tdi]

911F said:

I'm sure this has been answered before.

Why is it A '45'

Why not A35 or A40 or A43? or even A36

I would assume its for Marketing purposes.

[Sub5s]

45 years AMG

[Amirhussain]

Just those rear lights I don't like. They look like their melting.

[Jakestar]

I miss the time where the number actually meant something about the engine..

[breadvan]

I miss the time where the number actually meant something about the fuel efficiency..

[bobberz]

Didn't know they were going to sell it in the U.S., especially since we don't get the A class here. Seems like it could be a very interesting car, though I'm still partial to the traditional AMG V8 noise.

What does that specific output relate to? Is must be pretty high up there among the list of production cars. I mean, 180bhp/litre, isn't that superbike territory? I'd like to know how that compares to sports/supercars.

[neiljohnson]

A car for me in the future I think but I can't afford one new

[bakker110]

Equivilant of £40000 for a C63! I know its in dollars but thats so cheap!

[MonteV]

AMG's "one man one engine" policy. Aston should have service marked and registered that brilliant concept. Those little brass plaques with "Bert Nash" on them certainly attracted me to the Aston brand.

Today it must be a gimmick, as everything is ruled by standardized method, and they want to remove anything that suggests statistical variation in performance due to human intervention. Now, I guess it's just the possibility to trace any mistakes made by human hands to specific individuals, although they market it as "hand made." Not a bad strategy, but it is different today from what it used to be.

If I wanted hand built I'd get my engines from either Barton or Black, BTW.

[ZesPak]

360bhp, 39.7mpg and CO2 of 165g/km. Is there anything out there that comes close to this that isn't some sort of hybrid?

That's properly amazing and could make it even acceptable as a company car over here

[Scott_Mac]

ZesPak said:

360bhp, 39.7mpg and CO2 of 165g/km. Is there anything out there that comes close to this that isn't some sort of hybrid?

That's properly amazing and could make it even acceptable as a company car over here

And i'm quite sure that this one won't get anywhere near the middle stat either....

As for others, BMW 335i isn't a million miles away....

[ZesPak]

Scott_Mac said:

And i'm quite sure that this one won't get anywhere near the middle stat either....

As for others, BMW 335i isn't a million miles away....

Meh, it's the government that is concerned about those stats as a company car, not me.

As in "not a million miles away", I do hope you're not serious?
It's about 20% down on power, and 20% up in emissions.

It's a six in line and will probably be the more pleasant engine, but on paper it's totally obliterated by the Merc's engine.

[hillchilly]

911F said:

I'm sure this has been answered before.

Why is it A '45'

Why not A35 or A40 or A43? or even A36

I thought Jim Clark learnt to drive properly in an A35 or am I showing my age?

[Krikkit]

$10k more for a C63... Is that still a choice? This looks fantastic, but that's a no-brainer in a country where fuel is hilariously cheap.

[loveice]

Two back seats or three?

[AndrewSV]

loveice said:

Two back seats or three?

Merc call it a 2+1

[ge0rge]

Meh, bloody haldex ruining things again !

[TheOrangePeril]

911F said:

I'm sure this has been answered before.

Why is it A '45'

Why not A35 or A40 or A43? or even A36

So people don't mistake it for a baby Austin...

[mackie1]

I'm guessing the number is a proportional thing. If a 63 has 500bhp and the same ratio would give a 45 near enough 360bhp.