2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA EV First Ride: Small Electric Sedan Aims to Set a New Bar

• The 2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA will be revealed next year.
• It will be offered with either a hybrid or fully electric powertrain.
• More small cars — including the new GLA and GLB — will follow.

The 2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA will debut next spring, and the big news this time around is that the company's smallest sedan will be offered with both gas-fed and fully electric powertrains. Following my drive in the new Mercedes-AMG E 53 last week, Mercedes let me sample the electric CLA from the passenger seat, on a brief ride up and down the gorgeous Timmelsjoch pass along the Austrian and Italian border. If you're going to ride shotgun, it helps to have a marvelous vista.

My first impression of the CLA: It's small. With three adults in this subcompact sedan, accommodations are cozy to say the least. But that's a good thing — small cars have a habit of ballooning with each new generation, but Mercedes says that the new CLA is roughly the same size as the current car.

The interior of this CLA test car is totally covered in black shrouds, though I can see the new MB.OS infotainment system peeking through the cloth, as well as circular, backlit air vents at the far ends of the dashboard, their ambient colors changing during the drive. Expect a full-width display that incorporates a digital gauge cluster, multimedia screen and passenger display, which will undoubtedly give the new CLA a tech advantage over competitors like the Audi A3 and BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe.

EV or hybrid, take your pick

The CLA hybrid will use a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four paired with a 48-volt integrated starter-generator to provide supplemental torque for acceleration and smoothing out the operation of the stop-start system. That's about all I can tell you right now, but know that this powertrain will make its way into Mercedes' other small cars, including the next-generation GLA and GLB.

As for the CLA EV, it centers around an 85-kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt battery. (There will be a smaller battery pack option available in other countries, but this isn't expected to reach the U.S.) There's a 200-kW (268-hp) drive unit on the rear axle, as well as an 80-kW (107-hp) "boost motor" on the front axle, the latter of which can be turned off when it isn't needed. Mercedes says it takes 0.2 seconds to couple or decouple the front motor, as dictated by things like acceleration demands or stability needs. To help with overall operating efficiency — especially at higher speeds — the CLA EV will use a two-speed transmission. Top speed is expected to be 130 mph.

As for range, Mercedes-Benz expects the CLA to be able to travel "more than 750 kilometers" on the European WLTP cycle, according to Timo Stegmaier, the company's head of electric compact and midsize cars, and my driver during this brief ride. That's about 466 miles, which is pretty darn impressive, though keep in mind, the European WLTP figure is, shall we say, generously optimistic compared to U.S. EPA numbers.

When it comes time to charge, the CLA's 800-volt electrical architecture will allow for energy intake rates as high as 320 kW, which is excellent. Stegmaier says the CLA should be able to recuperate 185-ish miles of range in just 10 minutes, in an ideal charging scenario.

One-pedal driving and a comfortable ride

Obviously, you can't get a sense of how a car drives from the passenger seat, though I will say the CLA EV rides quite well, even on less-than-ideal snowy surfaces. The cabin is quiet, and that swoopy shape helps keep wind noise to a minimum. I look forward to driving the CLA EV myself next year.

Four regenerative braking modes will be available: high, medium and low, as well as an adaptive "D Auto" that uses forward-facing cameras and radars, as well as GPS data, to automatically adjust the intensity of regen on the go. On several downhill stretches of the Timmelsjoch, Stegmaier lifted his foot off the throttle completely and the CLA smoothly slowed to a stop using only regenerative force. That's right, the CLA will have true one-pedal driving capability — thank goodness.

It's only a few months away

Expect the production sedan to look a lot like the CLA concept that debuted in September 2023, complete with those star-shaped headlights and taillights. Even better, Mercedes-Benz says there won't be much visual differentiation between the hybrid and fully electric variants, save for things like a tailpipe and added air intakes for engine cooling on the internal-combustion-engine car.

Of course, the 2026 CLA is only the first part of Mercedes' next-gen compact car plans. The powertrains and technology found here will make their way into the GLA and GLB EVs and could spawn additional variants not meant for the U.S., like a CLA Shooting Brake wagon. It certainly sounds like a compelling little package. Good news is, we won't have to wait too much longer for all the final details.