Mercedes-Benz unveils CLA Shooting Brake for Europe

CLA 45 AMG TOPS THE LINEUP FOR STUTTGART'S SMALLEST LONGROOF

    Mercedes-Benz has finally taken the covers off the CLA Shooting Brake, meant to expand the CLA-class range by offering some of the style and versatility of the CLS Shooting Brake. The CLA was first seen in spy photos over a year ago, but it has taken the longroof version of the smallest Mercedes-Benz sedan a little extra time to be revealed, the company having been busy with introducing the all-new GLA-class and a couple other models.

    Before you pick up the phone to cancel the deposit on your CLA 250 sedan, we have to tell you that the CLA Shooting Brake is not coming to North America. Despite the tremendous sales success of its four-door sibling in the U.S., Mercedes-Benz won't be bringing its longroof variant to our shores for a number of boring business and marketing reasons. For one thing ... there's the GLA-class mini-SUV, whose starting price is just a bit north of the CLA-class. Mercedes-Benz executives have also told us that the CLA Shooting Brake did not do too well with focus groups or dealers. Given the cost of bringing a unique body style to the U.S. market, Mercedes-Benz just couldn't make a business case for it.

    We had a feeling that could well be the case as, despite automotive journalists' enthusiasm for anything resembling a station wagon (preferably a brown one, with a diesel engine and manual gearbox), such cars do not do well on dealer lots, to put it mildly. In Europe, however, the story may turn out to be entirely different as the CLA Shooting Brake appears to check all the right boxes, at least on paper.

    The CLA Shooting Brake will be offered with two diesel engines and four gas engines to start. At the bottom of the range, Mercedes-Benz will offer the CLA 200 CDI equipped with a 2.1-liter four-cylinder turbodiesel engine producing 136 hp and 221 lb-ft of torque. The CLA 200 CDI will be joined by the CLA 220 CDI, which will turn up to the power to 177 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. When it comes to gas powerplants, the smallest engine in the CLA-class will be the 1.6-liter CLA 180, which will produce 122 hp and 147 lb-ft of torque.

    Further up the range, Mercedes-Benz will offer the CLA 200, which will be equipped with a four-cylinder engine producing 156 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque. The CLA 250 will be equipped with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 211 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque, while the very top of the range will be occupied by the CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake, which will churn out 360 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque, close to the figures produced by the CLA 45 AMG available here. Pricing for Europe has not been announced, though it shouldn't stray far from their CLA range.

    And no, no matter how much you beg your local dealership, they won't be able to quietly bring one in just for you and call it a sedan on the paperwork. If things worked that way ... we would probably have some, ahem, unique daily drivers.