Well, it’s finally here. The 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLA has now been revealed, arriving as two electric vehicle (EV) variants after many months of waiting, teasing, and anticipation, with a mild hybrid model coming in much later. The next-generation CLA will serve as the German marque’s first of many car releases in the coming years.
Looking around on the outside, the final production car looks very much alike the Concept CLA Class we saw in 2023. The exterior is fully blinged-out with exactly 142 LED lights in the shape of the brand’s tri-point star forming the “grille”, with the star motif also extending to the headlights and taillights. But more importantly, it still keeps that iconic fastback silhouette that we all know and love.
The swooping roofline is part of how the all-new Mercedes-Benz CLA is able to achieve a drag coefficient of just 0.21 Cd. Other aerodynamic tweaks include repositioned and partially-sealed front shutlines, smooth underbody, flush pop-out door handles, wheel covers, and even air shrouds for the front suspension parts.
The 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLA is also bigger than the previous-generation CLA, too. It’s grown longer at 4,732 mm, wider at 2,021 mm, and taller at 1,468 mm. The wheelbase has also grownto 2,790 mm, but this being a compact model, it still falls short of the current C-Class’ wheelbase at 2,865 mm.
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Moving to the inside, the same lighting aesthetic carries over to interior elements like the climate air vents that light up around the outlet frame. The entirety of the front dashboard – or rather, a front vertical glass panel – is dominated by the MBUX Superscreen equipped with the latest version of MB.OS. The driver’s side gets a 10.25-inch digital display cluster, a 14-inch central display, and another 14-inch one right in front of the passenger seat, the latter of which is optional.
Despite the growth spurt the 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLA has, the inside is notably smaller than before – especially for passengers riding in the back seats – although headroom has indeed increased. Additionally, the boot size has decreased to 405 litres from the previous 460 litres. This can likely be attributed to the challenges of fitting the mild-hybrid and EV battery packs at the cost of interior real estate.
For those who value storage space, the EV variants convert the engine bay into a frunk with an extra 101 litres of space.
The 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLA is built on the marque’s brand-new Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture (MMA) platform for compact models, which is said to be “electric first”. That is why it’s only available in two EV variants at launch, namely the CLA250+ with EQ Technology, and CLA350 4Matic with EQ Technology, with an additional mild hybrid due sometime later.
Starting with the first of the two EV variants, the CLA250+ is a single rear motor configuration that produces 272 hp and 335 Nm of torque to the rear wheels. In this performance configuration, 0-100 km/h is achieved in 6.7 seconds before it tops out at its maximum speed of 210 km/h.
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Meanwhile, the CLA350 4MATIC has access to all-wheel drive (AWD) with one electric motor on each axle. This boosts the performance numbers up to 354 hp and 515 Nm of torque to all four wheels. In addition, the range-topping variant also clocks in a faster century sprint time at 4.9 seconds before it reaches the same 210 km/h top speed as the CLA250+.
Both variants are built on an 800V electric architecture – a first for Mercedes-Benz – which helps eke out as much range as possible from the 85 kW nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery pack on both variants – up to 792 km (WLTP) on the CLA250+, and 771 km (WLTP) on the CLA350 4Matic.
The 800V architecture also allows for DC fast charging of up to 320 kW. After 10 minutes of charging using DC power, the CLA250+ is able to gain 325 km of WLTP-rated EV range, and 315 km on the CLA350 4MATIC. AC charging, meanwhile, is supported at 11 kW on both variants.
The company made several references to a mild-hybrid variant of the all-new Mercedes-Benz CLA during the global reveal event, although not much has been revealed yet when it comes to details. Mercedes-Benz does say that there will be three variants – including front-wheel drive (FWD) and AWD options – all featuring a newly-developed 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine.
The engine will be paired to an electric motor housed within the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, and a 1.3 kWh battery pack, which can give the model a boost of up to 27 hp when required. The car is also able to coast with the engine off at speeds of up to 100 km/h, and can also regenerate electricity to charge the battery through normal driving through all eight gears.
