Mercedes-Benz actually desires us to imagine that the brand new CLA is revolutionary. First teased as an idea in 2023, Mercedes promised that the forthcoming manufacturing automotive would provide spectacular vary and effectivity due to revolutionary tech initially previewed within the Imaginative and prescient EQXX idea.

Mercedes saved hyping the CLA up, drip-feeding us data with the implication that this was it—the Mercedes that may make Mercedes Mercedes once more. Now, the manufacturing automotive is right here, and whereas the vary is spectacular (possible round 400 miles on the EPA cycle for the single-motor mannequin) not a lot else is.

Photograph by: Mercedes-Benz

The CLA is a mirrored image of the onerous actuality that Mercedes—and different manufacturers—at present face. It’s caught between regulators pushing for EVs and prospects who aren’t giving up internal-combustion engines as shortly as many thought. So, it has to proceed down the costly path of investing in each kinds of propulsion, whereas additionally heading off the existential menace of Chinese language EVs that considerably undercut them on worth.

The CLA rides on a brand new platform referred to as Mercedes-Benz Modular Structure, or MMA for brief. Breaking with its earlier strategy, this platform permits for each internal-combustion and all-electric propulsion, which is inherently a compromise. Engineers use the time period “bundle safety,” which, in automotive growth, is while you depart house for a part chances are you’ll want to make use of. An incredible instance is the current-generation 911. Porsche left house within the transmission for an electrical motor though the corporate was undecided at that time whether or not it could make a hybrid mannequin.

There’s lots of bundle safety that goes right into a shared EV/combustion platform. You’ve acquired to construct in top fora large battery pack within the flooring, and have an extended hood with room for the engine. However for both the combustion or electrical variations, you’re left with an enormous house that goes unused. Meaning additional materials, additional weight, and additional price for nothing.

Photograph by: Mercedes-Benz

The CLA is a mirrored image of the onerous actuality that Mercedes—and different manufacturers—at present face.

Not all EVs that share a combustion platform are dangerous. BMW particularly has finished nicely with the i4 and i5, however even these are compromised. Each are awkwardly tall, making issues difficult for designers and worse for aerodynamicists—frontal space is a perform of top and width, and also you need to get that as small as doable—and so they’re heavy. The explanation the brand new BMW M5 is so heavy just isn’t just because it is a hybrid; it’s due to all the additional materials that goes into accommodating a completely electrical powertrain in the identical bodyshell.

And the CLA is kind of heavy. The highest-level CLA350 weighs 4,706 kilos—143 kilos greater than a base short-wheelbase S-Class in Europe. Absolutely the gas-powered CLA shall be lighter, however the level right here is that neither it nor the CLA EV are as mild as they could possibly be.

Mercedes truly made a devoted EV platform for its EQE and EQS fashions, however shoppers roundly rejected them, not less than, partially, due to their odd design. A design that mirrored a much less compromised strategy to EV engineering. And now, BMW will quickly launch a pure-EV platform with the upcoming iX3.

Photograph by: Mercedes-Benz

To play satan’s advocate, it’s truly spectacular given all these compromises that Mercedes made such an environment friendly EV. There’s a plethora of fine {hardware} right here: an 800-volt structure that permits sooner charging amongst many different advantages, new motors designed in-house, silicon-carbide inverters, a extra energy-dense battery pack, and a two-speed transmission for the rear motor.

The CLA’s drag coefficient is low at 0.21 cD in contrast with 0.23 cD for the previous CLA—although that acquire is offset considerably by the brand new automotive’s bigger frontal space. And the internal-combustion model has an attention-grabbing 48-volt hybrid system.

Photograph by: Mercedes-Benz

However all of that’s paired with the worst instincts of 2020s Mercedes. Chintzy design with three-pointed stars in all places you look, an inside that eschews buttons for but extra screens, and LED ambient lighting on seemingly each single floor doable. Whereas I haven’t sat within the automotive but, it seems to be what too many fashionable Mercedes-Benz fashions are—a triumph of favor over substance.

Oh, and did I point out the CLA options an AI-powered in-car radio app made in partnership with Will.i.am? I feel you get the image.

Mercedes needed us to recall to mind the good fashions of its previous in hyping up the brand new CLA. I hoped this could possibly be one other 190E second, but it surely’s not. That automotive was completely uncompromising: This isn’t.
To be truthful, Mercedes can’t construct vehicles prefer it did 40 years in the past, and that’s been true for a while. And whereas the CLA guarantees some good issues, I’ve a tough time imagining it’s a return to the glory days.