Mercedes-Benz CLA - official!

New saloon-coupe will offer CLS-style looks in an A-Class-sized package

Remember when the Mercedes A-Class was all tall and gawky? Hailed as something new and innovative, it arrived in a blaze of hype and, when it stopped falling over, proved to be exactly what a lot of people wanted. Who’d have thought?

Looks good from up here...

The latest A-Class, though, has almost apologetically ditched its sit-up-and-beg stance in favour of a more traditional two-box look, bringing it into direct competition with the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3. And as if that wasn’t enough, Mercedes has today released pictures of its most traditional variant yet: a saloon.

It’ll be badged as the CLA, and feature swoopy CLS-inspired styling, but one glance at the front end gives the game away: for all Merc’s talk of a ‘compact mid-range coupe’, at heart this is essentially a booted A-Class. It’ll feature the same range of engines, topped by the 211hp 2.0-litre turbo that powers the A250, and under the skin the suspension setup will remain largely the same. Inside, meanwhile, the CLA gets the same dash as the A-Class, which is no bad thing. As per the hatch, it’s marred by that faddish – and slightly tacky – ‘tablet-style’ infotainment screen that perches on top of everything like an aftermarket sat nav, but otherwise it’s a handsome affair.

...not so sure about down here.

Despite its traditional body style, Mercedes is making much of the CLA’s sporting aspirations. The word ‘sporty’ is peppered throughout the press release – although, tellingly, all but one of these references is to do with the way the new car looks, rather than the way it drives. It’s certainly a curvy little thing, although from some angles – notably the rear quarter – it looks a little... well... droopy. Still, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt; similar criticisms were levelled at the original CLS, and that’s since grown on us. One thing’s for sure, though: it’ll be a slippery blighter, with a remarkably low drag coefficient of 0.23, thanks to under-body panelling, as well as that smooth styling.

Nice enough in here, though.

Will it really be all that ‘sporty’, though? Well, we’ll reserve judgement until we drive it, of course. However, the A-Class hatch is rather stodgy, even in A250 ‘Engineered by AMG’ form, so unless there’ve been some tweaks Merc isn’t shouting about, things aren’t looking promising. Certainly, it speaks volumes that Mercedes has chosen to reveal the car not at the Detroit show, but at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Berlin. Conclusions that the CLA is all about its looks will be inevitable.

If it is, though, it may struggle in the face of stiff competition. Booted versions of BMW’s 1 Series and the much-vaunted new Audi A3 are in the pipeline, and both of these A-Class rivals have had plenty of critical acclaim thrown in the direction of their driving dynamics. So if the CLA can’t pull anything more than slinky styling and a pretty interior out of its hat, it could be a tough sell.

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Chicane-UK

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