2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class is an MMA…er, Ioniq fighter

• 2026 CLA splits into electrical, hybrid fashions
• EV: 85.5-kwh battery, 2-speed transmission, single or twin motors
• Hybrid: turbo-4, electrical motor, 8-speed dual-clutch
• Costs—and vehicles—come later in 2025

We’ve seen it in spy images, and sat within the entrance proper seat for a sneak preview of its efficiency. Now it’s time to take the primary have a look at one of the crucial standard small luxurious vehicles on the street. 

The Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class has been reinvented for the 2026 mannequin 12 months. It’s grown greater, has gained extra expertise, and now it’s pushed by batteries, partially or in all. It’s a rival for a couple of autos within the under-$50,000 house, however one which it calls to thoughts most clearly is a non-luxury-branded sedan: the Hyundai Ioniq 6.

It’s nonetheless a compact sedan, with an aero-smooth physique and room for 4 or 5. However this time round, the CLA-Class has grow to be a form of thought chief for the hardest query going through luxurious automakers as we speak: How do you retain costs in relative verify, whereas complying with every kind of world rules and ill-conceived tariffs—and whereas delivering a hefty payload of favor and expertise?

2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class

2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class: Pores and skin within the sport

From its physique panels to its tires, the 2026 CLA bristles with an evolution of its coupe-like fashion. It’s constructed on a brand new element set dubbed MMA that can type the idea for a foursome of compact autos within the coming years. There’s a CLA-Class, a substitute for the GLB-Class SUV, a GLA hatchback successor, and a shooting-brake CLA that received’t come to the U.S.

The CLA’s id, if something, has grown sharper—whereas it’s additionally grown up and out. With extra wedge in its stance and a taller profile, it’s a muscled-up model of the compact Benz that’s now in its third technology. On the entrance, the electrical CLA wears a entrance panel studded with 142 LED-lit stars, with the three-pointed-star badge lit on the middle of the constellation. Stars even make up its LED operating lights. All pulse to greet the driving force or to say goodbye. Hybrid CLAs get their very own chrome-stamped stars as a substitute, with a extra typical grille framed by LED gentle. The entrance finish’s cutlines masks a number of the automotive’s added top; the roofline does many of the work because it slopes towards a rear finish that’s banded by a light-weight bar and studded with its personal three-pointed-star LED taillights. 

Within the CLA’s cabin, the cowl sits excessive, and wide-screen shows dominate from door to door. Within the vein of the Hyperscreen within the EQE and EQS vehicles, the CLA’s “Superscreen” stitches collectively three shows beneath a single glass pane, and clothes it with a Mercedes-coded interface. It’s a glance that guarantees to work higher within the GLB-Class substitute, simply in proportion alone, nevertheless it’s knitted in right here with floating armrests with pull-style handles and a floating middle console, so the inside doesn’t really feel too confining. Wooden, leather-based, and metallic trim offset the pixels, in at the least one unexpectedly fabulous approach—in a single remedy with retro aptitude, white leather-based clouds up round white wooden trim inscribed with pencil-thin traces. In all, the fashion is supposed to attraction to present CLA and Mercedes house owners, with not one of the spartan overtones of another EVs.

2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class

2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class: Hybrid or battery-electric, however no PHEV

Reasonably than cluster its efficiency credentials round a single powertrain, the 2026 CLA sedan pushes towards the ends of the bell curve as a substitute. For now, the U.S. lineup will embody two electrical fashions, with a hybrid version to return in a 12 months or so.

The CLA 250+ with EQ Know-how takes up the entry spot within the BEV lineup. With a 85.5-kwh (usable) lithium-ion battery pack forming its flooring and a single motor on the rear, this version guarantees 268 hp and a 0-60 mph time of 6.6 seconds. Including a second, 107-hp motor in entrance creates the CLA 350 4Matic with EQ Know-how. It’s all-wheel drive, after all, and posts a Mercedes-estimated 0-60 mph time of 4.8 seconds. Each BEVs cap out at 130 mph. 

Because it has chased effectivity in battery-electric design to construct the MMA vehicles, Mercedes has extracted a number of the classes from its EQXX idea. In dual-motor fashions, the entrance motor can decouple to cut back consumption at that finish by as much as 90%. The aerodynamic form cuts a profile with a 0.21 coefficient of drag, whereas the automotive trims effectivity losses within the chilly with a warmth pump. The 2026 CLA would be the first—however definitely not the final—Mercedes to deploy a 2-speed transmission mounted within the rear, which permits the automotive to function extra effectively throughout a wider vary of speeds.

With its 800-volt structure, the CLA will have the ability to cost at a charge of as much as 320 kw, which guarantees a most restoration of 186 miles of vary in 10 minutes. The plan for U.S. vehicles, at the least, is to incorporate each J1772 and NACS cost ports beneath a single door. Mercedes hasn’t quoted a time for recharging through a Stage 2 connection by means of its onboard 11-kw charger. Whereas EPA scores haven’t been confirmed, WLTP estimates recommend the CLA’s best mannequin ought to have greater than 300 miles of vary—even perhaps 350 miles.

Complaints concerning the regenerative braking on Mercedes’s large EQS and EQE vehicles have led to a revamped system within the CLA. Now the automotive takes sensor knowledge from driver braking and blends regen with friction braking for the most effective stopping energy. Generally, Mercedes believes the regenerative braking will do the work. The 2026 CLA-Class may have a real one-pedal drive mode, one thing we skilled throughout a CLA EV prototype journey late final 12 months. Drivers will toggle from low to excessive regen by means of D-, D, and D+ modes, with a fourth D Auto mode that lets the automotive determine the quantity of regen.

The CLA EVs ought to launch by the tip of this 12 months. In 2026, Mercedes plans so as to add a hybrid CLA to the combination. It pairs a 1.5-liter 4-cylinder engine with a smaller 1.3-kwh battery pack and a 27-hp entrance motor that’s built-in into its 8-speed dual-clutch computerized. No plug-in hybrid has been deliberate—a PHEV setup wouldn’t be environment friendly with value or gasoline—however the CLA will have the ability to cruise on battery energy at speeds of as much as 60 mph.

2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class

2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class: A recent tech outlook, with a brand new OS

It stays a compact car, however the 2026 CLA-Class has made some positive aspects because it will get into combating trim. The wheelbase has grown by 2.4 inches, general top by 1.1 inches. A quick stint in the back and front seats confirmed the CLA is in a greater place than the 2 earlier vehicles by way of driving place and luxury. The again seat’s higher, too, however a number of the progress comes from the upper panoramic sunroof that floods the inside with gentle. The battery pack consumes that inch-plus development spurt in EV fashions, and the rear seating place’s nonetheless a knees-up affair. In cargo house, the CLA EV’s trunk seems to be extra usefully sized—and there’s a entrance trunk, too. A roll-aboard will match, nevertheless it should be hoisted over the nostril to get there.

Area hasn’t been a CLA calling card, anyway. Know-how guarantees to be a brand new one, with the Superscreen internet hosting a brand new MB.OS interface that blends Google map knowledge with Mercedes feel and look. The driving force can view augmented mapping info on their digital show, whereas full-screen Apple CarPlay or native navigation steer towards a vacation spot or play streaming music—all whereas the entrance passenger can view motion pictures or different streaming content material. With improved voice recognition and responsive speech, MB.OS will get “extra pleasant”—and extra involved with the driving force’s temper, as it could shift its lighting language from inexperienced to crimson, for instance, because it senses the driving force’s speech and observes in-car knowledge. We’re desperate to experiment with this setup in intense visitors with numerous demise metallic music, simply to push a couple of buttons (that it doesn’t have, due to large screens and touch-swipe controls).

Each 2026 CLA-Class sedan will sport computerized emergency braking and adaptive cruise management. A Stage 2 driver-assist system will add computerized lane modifications and different options, some by means of over-the-air updates that it could ship by means of its community of eight cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and 5 radar sensors. 

That’ll all value extra, possible, than the 2025 CLA-Class, which began at $45,550 and raced to $70,000 within the AMG CLA 45 S. No U.S.-specific numbers or options have been introduced, however by late 2025, it’ll all grow to be clearer—and we’ll know if the most recent CLA can outflank its rivals and publish up on the high of the compact luxury-EV class.

Mercedes-Benz paid for journey so we may convey you this primary have a look at the 2026 CLA 250+ and CLA 350 4Matic.