Mercedes-Benz has taken the wraps off a Concept CLA Class boasting 750km all-electric range figures at the IAA Mobility show in Munich overnight, giving us a preview of what we can expect to see from the next-gen CLA in a year’s time.
The Concept CLA Class not only previews a sleek new styling package from Mercedes, but also a some serious technical and efficiency gains enabled by the Vision EQXX that look set to take the fight to rivals like the Tesla Model 3 and Polestar 2 rival.
Highlights of the Concept CLA Class include a super efficient energy consumption figure of 12kWh/100km that translate to range figures of 750km on a single charge, as well as 800V charging hardware that can add 400km of range in just 15-minutes.
The Concept CLA’s energy consumption figure of 12kWh/100km betters that of its Tesla Model 3 equivalent by 1.4kWh, with the Tesla consuming 13.4kWh/100km.
Power outputs of the Concept CLA stand at 175kW from its rear-mounted electric motor which receives a two-speed transmission, with the powertrain tipping the scales at just 110kg.
The company has also mentioned an entry-level variant producing 150kW, as well as a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive AMG variant producing in excess of 400kW.
The Concept CLA Class is built on a new Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA) platform that allows the company to build hybrid, electric and ICE versions of the CLA on the same production line, helping to cut manufacturing costs which it can pass onto customers.
Mercedes is also planning on packaging the next-gen CLA with a choice of both lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt-oxide (NMC) battery packs with an updated chemical mix that should hit the market in 2024.
According to a report from Drive, those next-gen battery packs will have capacities measuring between 58kWh and 85kWh.
Inside, the Concept CLA’s technology package is headlined by the attention-grabbing MBUX Superscreen that spans the length of the entire dashboard, seamlessly incorporating three separate displays.
That system will come powered by a brand new proprietary chip-to-cloud system that offers faster processing, over-the-air updates, artificial intelligence and machine learning systems; the latter of which will be put to use with autonomous driving applications.
Mercedes-Benz says we can expect to see the next-generation CLA in production form debut some time in the near future and the first examples hitting the road likely in late 2024.
