- Battery-electric CLA 250+, CLA 350 arrive first
- Non-PHEV CLA hybrid coming in a yr
- EVs have 800-volt structure, 320-kw max charging
Mercedes-Benz will kick off the substitute of all its world small automobiles this yr—and once they do, all of the fashions coming to the U.S. will sport some form of electrification. However some will likely be extra electrical than others.
Battery-electric CLAs would be the first of the brand new era of compact automobiles to reach late in 2025. They’ll be adopted by a CLA hybrid a few yr after that, with replacements for the GLA-Class hatchback and GLB-Class but to come back.
Not half of the present plan: plug-in hybrids.
As a substitute, the MMA componentry will likely be BEV-first, mentioned Christoph Starzynski, Vice President Product Technique and Product Steering Mercedes-Benz Vehicles, whereas a non-plug-in hybrid will comply with.
It’s a method that has been within the works because the MMA program, Starzynski advised Inexperienced Automotive Stories. The mix of EV and ICE fashions was the best way MMA “was all the time deliberate as a platform or structure,” he mentioned throughout a current roundtable in Sindelfingen, throughout a press preview of the brand new vary.
2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class
CLA EV: An 85.5-kwh core, with a motor or two
Whereas the revamped CLA-Class grows bigger and extra technologically complicated, it’s drawn nearer to a couple new nameplates within the EV area. Some growing older merchandise apart, the automobiles the CLA now competes with most instantly embody mass-market machines just like the Toyota Prius and the Hyundai Ioniq 6.
With rivals like these, the 2026 CLA needed to have an environment friendly battery at its coronary heart. For the previous few years, Mercedes has been maturing its EV know-how with a sequence of ideas, beginning with the current EQXX idea.
Each a single-motor and a dual-motor CLA will likely be supplied. The CLA 250+ rear-drive, single-motor sedan rides atop an 85.5-kwh (usable) lithium-ion battery pack. It’s rated at 268 hp, and Mercedes predicts a 0-60 mph time of 6.6 seconds.
With a second 107-hp motor in entrance, the CLA 350 4Matic will supply all-wheel drive and a faster acceleration time of 4.8 seconds. The entrance motor will likely be decoupled when not in use, for higher effectivity, an effort that’s in live performance with a warmth pump and a low 0.21 coefficient of drag.
The 800-volt structure of the CLA permits a cost fee of as much as 320 kw, which might return 186 miles of vary in 10 minutes on a DC quick charger. No estimates have been printed for dwelling Stage 2 charging by way of its 11-kw onboard inverter. Based mostly on WLTP ranges, it’s probably probably the most CLA 250+ will carry at the least a 300-mile EPA rated vary—maybe a lot greater.
2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class
The CLA will profit from a reworked regenerative braking system that avoids the pitfalls of that on the EQE and EQS automobiles. As a substitute of transferring the pedal in response to regenerative braking, it should learn the stress utilized to the pedal and mix regen and friction braking for a extra easily mixed pressure.
The CLA EV can have 4 regen modes—together with a one-pedal drive mode. It’s “not one thing I am a fan of,” Starzynski mentioned, however clients needed it.
With its 800-volt design, the CLA presents a query for charging within the U.S., the place 400-volt Tesla stations are probably the most generally accessible. Mercedes automobiles will be capable to entry the Ionna charging community that it’s a accomplice in, however Starzynski didn’t affirm how Mercedes would deal with the compatibility of these 400-volt charging stations.
“If we see a market demand for 400 volts in the US when the automobile hits the market,” he mentioned, “then we may even discover a answer.”
2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class
2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class: Fuel-electric hybrid, minus the plug
Starzynski mentioned the BEV-first design has resulted in a greater ICE automobile than may need been developed. That ICE hybrid arrives a few yr after the battery-electric CLA sedan. In it, a 1.5-liter 4-cylinder will likely be mated to a 1.3-kwh battery pack, and to a 27-hp entrance motor built-in with an 8-speed dual-clutch computerized. No efficiency numbers or fuel-economy figures have been mooted, however Starzynski confirmed the CLA hybrid would be capable to depend on its hybrid battery to permit the automobile to cruise on battery energy alone at speeds of as much as 60 mph.
The CLA hybrid can have electrical drive vary—simply “not one thing you may certify,” Starzynski mentioned—however there are not any plans to provide you with a “third method” answer for the automobile.
As a BEV or HEV, however not a PHEV, the CLA will stay one of many solely, if not the one, Mercedes mannequin to take action. A plug-in hybrid on this worth and measurement class wouldn’t be a sensible choice, he advised. In bigger automobiles that require a extra highly effective drivetrain, plug-ins are a very good “bridging situation,” he defined. Given the doable price and vary trade-off, clients haven’t been clamoring for a CLA-sized PHEV—however for automobiles such because the GLC 350e plug-in hybrid now on sale within the U.S., the bridge to full-BEV driving is “undoubtedly a method we need to hold.”
2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class
2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class styling, area, and tech
The 2026 CLA—each electrical and hybrid fashions—get plenty of stars of their visible language on this era. With a extra pronounced wedge in its stance, the CLA EV wears 142 tiny three-pointed stars on its face, a giant lighted one entrance and heart, and extra within the headlights and taillights.
The wide-screen know-how inside counts as one other star, by any measure. A trio of digital shows marry beneath a pane of glass to create the “Superscreen,” a companion to the extra expansive Hyperscreen in at present’s EQE and EQS automobiles. The overwhelming presence of the shows within the compact CLA may play higher on the GLB SUV substitute but to come back—it’s a high-cowl, SUV-like sprint form, interval—however the brand new interface performs properly regardless of who’s within the viewers. It’s an immersive expertise dubbed MB.OS, and it permits drivers to reorder apps on the house display screen as they see match, to swipe by means of screens like on a pill, and to go full-screen with Apple CarPlay if they like that atmosphere.
2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class
MB.OS components in Google map knowledge by means of a Mercedes-coded feel and look that even integrates lighting and voice high quality to assuage the motive force. If the voice-command system acknowledges a tersely worded request, it may match the vitality by dialing the automobile’s lighting from a cool blue to a vivid purple, for instance.
All CLAs will sport a bundle of security options together with adaptive cruise management. A Stage 2 driver help setup will come as an choice, aided by an in-car community of eight cameras, 5 radar sensors, and 12 ultrasonic sensors, in addition to over-the-air updates.
Costs will likely be confirmed nearer to the on-sale date, later this yr. For comparability, the present CLA 250 prices $45,550. Anticipate extra of all the pieces, particularly worth—particularly within the present EV-unfriendly political local weather.
Mercedes-Benz paid for journey in order that we might deliver you this primary look of the 2026 CLA-Class.