What’s in the pipeline for Mercedes-Benz Australia

Mercedes-Benz has a busy rest of the year coming up as it prepares to launch the electric versions of the second-generation CLA, the CLA Shooting Brake wagon and an all-new GLB that’ll be offered in hybrid and electric forms.

Not long after the arrival of the electric CLA in July, Mercedes-Benz Australia will introduce the all-new GLB (also in Q3) with the CLA Shooting Brake set to follow in Q4.

But the CLA roll-out won’t end there; with AMG variants of the previous CLA accounting for around 20 per cent of sales in Australia, there will definitely be an AMG-powered CLA on the way here in 2027.

It’s already been confirmed overseas, but the bad news for local AMG fans is the hyper-CLA is bound to be an EV.

But why is there no plug-in hybrid option for the CLA?

When asked late last year if the 1.5-litre turbocharged powerplant in the hybrid CLA was compatible with a PHEV application, Mercedes-Benz's chief technical officer Markus Schäfer skirted around the question.

Local execs at Mercedes-Benz Australia were similarly coy about discussing a PHEV when asked last week by carsales, and a statement from Stuttgart the following day was quite vague too.

“The development team focused on creating a highly efficient hybrid system that operates at its optimal point majority of the time, supported by the 8F-eDCT transmission,” it read – no mention at all of a plug-in hybrid CLA.

With just $6000 separating the base CLA hybrid and EV, there’s not much room to squeeze in a PHEV.

Plugging the gap with a PHEV would demand moving the hybrid downmarket, which would be consequential for the resale value.

Nor can electric CLA prices move higher, because the CLA 350 4MATIC is already priced just $87 shy of the ceiling for the current Luxury Car Tax green car dispensation ($91,387).

But maybe in an AMG subset of CLAs, the pricing structure wouldn’t be a factor.

An AMG CLA PHEV would offer all the snap, crackle and pop any red-blooded AMG fan could ever want on the open road while delivering quiet, smooth electric power around town.

This could be a Mercedes-AMG CLA 35, leaving the door open for the rumoured three-motor variant to top the range as the Mercedes-AMG CLA 45.

At this stage, however, it’s all speculation and conspiracy theory. And it’s important to note there has been little in the way of credible evidence that Benz is developing a plug-in CLA at all, other than a disguised prototype shown in 2023 with fuel filler/EV charge port flaps on both rear quarter panels.

Finally, if there is no CLA PHEV in development, why not just say so? The curiously muffled vibes from Benz are... well, curious.

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