Faster Charging, Four Doors and AI: The Mercedes-Benz CLA

Is the next big thing in electric vehicles going to be the sedan? It’s a sign of how dominated the automotive market — at least in the United States — is by trucks and SUVs that an uptick in high-profile sedans feels borderline-revolutionary, and yet here we are. One harbinger of where we are now came from Mercedes-Benz, who revealed a concept version of their CLA in 2023. Now, we have a better sense of what to expect from the production version. Hint: The green technology keeping it on the road isn’t the only high-tech feature on board.

Mercedes-Benz announced two versions of the CLA this week: An all-electric version and a hybrid that will be available “towards the end of the year.” They’ve provided more details on the former, which will itself be available in two versions — the CLA 250+ and the CLA 350 4MATIC, the latter of which is considered to be, as per the automaker’s announcement, “the performance version at the top end of the model range.”

Among the features Mercedes-Benz is touting here are the charging speeds for the CLA; the CLA 250+ is capable of being charged enough in 10 minutes to travel roughly 200 miles. (Caveat: the automaker stated you’ll need to be using a DC fast charger capable of “500 amps based on the WLTP range.”)

Much of Mercedes-Benz’s announcement focuses on the ways technology will improve the driving experience. As you might expect from the automaker’s announcement of a Google partnership earlier this year, this includes the integration of Google’s Gemini AI as well as Microsoft’s AI technology. The CLA will also include a number of features designed to assist drivers with things like changing lanes, being aware of one’s distance from other vehicles and parking.

Mercedes Expanding G-Class With Smaller G-Wagen

It’s part of a broader electric vehicle push

“The CLA always shaped our brand towards the next generation of customers,” said Gorden Wagener, the chief design officer of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, in a statement. “Therefore with this next generation we made the design very high-tech looking, sporty as a four-door GT and beautiful like a sensual sculpture.” As for when we can expect to see this on the road, Autoblog’s Gabriel Ionica reports it should begin arriving at Mercedes-Benz dealers later in 2025.