As with all established carmakers out there, Mercedes-Benz will all-electrify its fleet in the coming years. The company aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2039—which seems like a bit far away from now, but as you know, time flies! And so, one of the important models of the brand, the CLA Class, will also be fully electrified. We don’t know of a fixed date as to when that’ll happen, but Mercedes says that the Concept CLA Class “offers a close-to-production insight into the upcoming family of vehicles that stands at the gateway to the brand”.
The Concept CLA Class looks… well, fairly clean for a concept. It is mostly curvaceous—as you can see. The front fascia features semi-circular headlights (outlines, actually) with an illuminated three-pointed star inside, and an eyebrow-like light band that stretches across the full width and wraps around the front of the car. There’s a “grille” with an illuminated three-pointed star pattern. The same lighting has been mimicked at the rear of the car. For some reason, those 21-inch aerodynamic wheels remind me of those of the Porsche Mission E concept (on sale as Taycan since 2019). No visible door handles/openers, of course, but interestingly, there are traditional mirrors as opposed to cameras. Also, don’t miss that little LiDAR bulge over the windscreen.
Inside, it is even more concepty than the outside. There are some strange-looking seats and sci-fi-looking elements, but the dashboard features MBUX Superscreen with AI functionalities, and as you can also probably see, there are large air vent-like circular knobs featuring an integrated display. Also, Mercedes-Benz is developing its own operating system called MB.OS—which is said to be a digital foundation for upcoming electric vehicles.
One of the key features of this MB.OS architecture is its ability to facilitate an extremely high degree of networking of vehicle systems, sensors and actuators. One example would be the upcoming Child Presence Detection (CPD) system. It is designed to mitigate the risk of young children being accidentally left in a car, especially during warm weather. The system is activated when it detects the presence of a child in the vehicle through their distinctive breathing pattern.
And, for those who care to know, the Concept CLA Class also boasts sustainably sourced materials such as polyester textile made from recycled PET, sustainably produced & processed Nappa leather, floor mats woven from bamboo fibre, biotech-based silk-like fabric, a paper trim made from cellulose, etc.
The Concept CLA Class borrows its electric drivetrain technology and learnings from the Vision EQXX, and therefore it is claimed to offer a range of over 750 km (466 mi) with a consumption of around 12 kWh/100 km (5.2mi/kWh). And, thanks to 800-volt architecture, a 15-min fast-charging (up to 250 kW) is claimed to deliver a range of up to 400 km (248.5 mi).
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