Concept cars are always fun for typically two reasons: to admire the styling of, or have a laugh at. Often, concept cars lead into actual production cars, with some glitz and features stripped away, so for all that’s good in the world, I really hope that Mercedes Benz’s new concept car, the CLA, actually keeps its huge range promise once it’s on the market.
The new Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA class looks a bit sci-fi for its own good. A thin LED bar across the bonnet looks like a monobrow above two small eye-shaped headlights, and the smattering of LED dots across the fake grill makes it look like a powdered moustache, but don’t let its cyberpunk-judgemental-dad aesthetic fool you – it’s actually a bit of a marathon runner.
Mercedes is claiming that this new car will be capable of 750km range, effectively making it (hopefully) the third longest-range EV in the world. It sits firmly below the Lucid Air, which boasts a driving range of 883km WLTP, and the Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+, with a driving range of 780km WLTP. If you’re curious, the Tesla Model S Dual Motor follows the EQS 450+, with a range of 649km.
Moving on, the Mercedes-Benz CLA is the first EV to be built on Mercedes’ new MMA electric vehicle platform. It’s built with fast charging capabilities of 250kW, with the ability to apparently add 400km range to the battery after just 15 minutes of charging (provided you’re at a low enough battery level to take advantage of that full 250kW speed).
There’s also a wrap-around dashboard screen, and the interior looks oh-so expensive.
The screen is actually powered by a water-cooled CPU, which has been developed by Nvidia. Here’s what that chip looks like (yes, it looks extra as well).
Anyway, it’s hoped that the Mercedes Benz CLA will go into production in 2024, with the car spotted on the road with a testing wrap. The testing wrap model stripped away some elements, such as the panoramic roof, the powdered moustache LEDs, the bar LED across the bonnet, and the button press door handles, which is a shame because it was a fairly distinctive-looking concept car. Let’s hope they just removed those bits and will add them back later.
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