Zooming in on the low-resolution photograph appears to reveal another letter after 45, which means this car could be the CLA 45 S. That’s 420 PS (416 horsepower) on full song from 2.0 liters of displacement and four cylinders. The 4Matic system that comes standard will also feature a Drift Mode, a technological artifice that Ford pioneered with the Focus RS.
There’s no denying the CLA 45 and CLA 45 S will be revealed by the end of the year, but there’s some waiting to be done considering the CLA 34 premiered in April 2019. In other words, both 45 models will be available to order for the 2020 model year.
Over in Germany, the CLA is priced at 37,765 euros for the 200 d with the turbo diesel engine. At the other end of the scale, the 35 is 51,705 euros, a lot of money for a compact sedan. The U.S. lineup starts with the 250 at $33,100 before destination charge and tops with the 45 at $53,100 for the previous generation of the CLA-Class.
The 2020 is listed on the U.S. website with 221 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, but Mercedes-Benz hasn’t offered a starting price for the time being. Nevertheless, it should be highlighted the Edition 1 will be available in the first year of production.
A bigger alternative to the CLA is the C-Class, which is manufactured for the U.S. at the Tuscaloosa plant in Alabama since June 2014. The factory was founded in the 1990s with the launch of the M-Class, and as of May 2019, no fewer than 3,700 people are employed there.
