Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake, an electric estate

Mercedes is changing tack. With the specific design for electric models not having borne fruit with the EQE and EQS sedans and SUVs, the company with the star is reviewing its strategy. In the future, there should no longer be any difference between the style of a combustion engine vehicle and a model with an electric motor. On the MMA platform for entry-level vehicles, the Stuttgart-based manufacturer will launch a new generation of the CLA streamlined sedan this fall, available for the first time with a zero-emission engine. Its Shooting Brake body version, released next March, will share the platform and technology. Around a wheelbase extended by 61 mm (2,790 mm), including 35 mm for the length, the CLA estate has improved its aerodynamics. The objective here was also to reduce air resistance to improve electric range. The volumes are more fluid.

While the estate's styling is identical to that of the CLA sedan up to the B-pillar, it is then distinguished by an extended roofline that drops onto a tailgate and extended rear doors to facilitate access on board, which is still cramped. While passengers benefit from improved headroom of 26 mm, they lose 6 mm in legroom. A person of 1.80 m should plan to travel with their knees bent. Similarly, the trunk loses 15 mm of loading depth, which affects the loading capacity of 30 liters (455 l) under the parcel shelf. By folding the rear seats, the cargo volume can be increased to 1,290 liters. An additional 101 liters can be added under the front hood.

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The CLA Shooting Brake inherits the sedan's cutting-edge technologies, namely an 800-volt architecture that allows charging at 320 kW and thus recovering up to 310 km of range in 10 minutes on the 85 kWh NMC battery. On the 200 kW (272 hp) rear-wheel drive version, the range reaches 761 km. With the 4-wheel drive version 350 4Matic with two 260 kW (354 hp) motors, the range is reduced by 31 km.

Some may see this as the beginning of a turnaround, but since the transition to electric isn't going as quickly as expected, Mercedes has kept internal combustion engines in its catalog. Modeled after the sedan, the CLA Shooting Brake range also offers 48V hybrid versions based on a 1.5-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine available in three power levels (136, 163, and 190 hp).