Mercedes have just announced an update to one of their best selling models, the CLA Coupe. The car that has invented its own place in the market as a 4-door saloon with sporty coupe styling. Others have tried to replicate the success of the CLA but very few have achieved. This new model will prove to be a hugely important car for Mercedes, as they sold over 750,000 units of the old model globally.
So, what’s new?
MBUX. Mercedes-Benz User eXperience. This revolutionary technology reimagines how we as drivers connect and communicate with our car. Their MBUX exists already higher up in the Mercedes lineup but the CLA will be the first car of the compact range to be gifted this equipment. The MBUX is incredibly popular due to its gesture recognition system which means it is extremely easy to cooperate with, all while being beautiful to look at. Interestingly, the MBUX uses the ‘Hello Mercedes’ voice recognition technology that has grabbed a lot of attention further up the Mercedes model list. This system operates similarly to ‘Alexa’ or ‘Siri’ where you simply summon the voice recognition system by saying ‘Hey Mercedes.’ The system is said to be so intelligent that it could reply to a query as complicated as ‘Which child-friendly Asian restaurants are nearby which are neither Chinese nor Japanese?’ Impressive.
What else has changed?
Happily, the exterior of the CLA hasn’t changed that much at all really, which is a good thing because the CLA is widely considered to be a rather good looking car. The rear end has been given the most treatment and it now shares an aesthetic identity with the rear end of the C-Class coupe and E-Class coupe. The sweeping roofline, frameless doors and ‘floating’ chrome grille are the other standout exterior features of this new CLA and they certainly increase the desirability of the car.
There is no denying though that the major improvements are focused inside the new CLA. The interior is now best-in-class by some margin. The two high-resolution 10.5 inch screens are a marvel, the turbine-like air vents look exceptional, and the centre console just looks absolutely epic. The images released so far are of the launch edition model, with orange pieces of trim dotted here, there and everywhere. There are more appropriate colour options available.
What are the specs?
The new CLA Coupe was unveiled at the Las Vegas trade show and it was exclusively on display as the CLA 250 AMG 4MATIC. This model uses a 4 cylinder 2.0-litre petrol engine and puts out 225 horsepower and 350 Nm of torque, which is plenty. By the time the CLA goes on sale in May, there will be a much wider variety of petrol and diesel models available and, we’d imagine, a highly strung CLA45 AMG model will follow shortly after.
There is no indication of pricing just yet, we’d imagine the full engine lineup and price list will be announced around March time.