With the electric Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 (C174), Affalterbach is pushing the performance ceiling of the sporty compact class into entirely new territory. Until now, the strongest cars in the segment topped out somewhere between 400 and 500 horsepower, occasionally beaten only by exclusive special editions like the BMW M2 CS. The switch to electric power blows that ceiling wide open.
Three Motors, 680 HP, 2.7 Seconds
The new CLA 45 is set to launch later this year, powered by three axial-flux motors delivering a combined 500 kW, or 680 horsepower. Mercedes-AMG claims a 0–100 km/h sprint of just 2.7 seconds, measured using the now-common 1-foot rollout method. On paper, that puts the CLA 45 far ahead of anything the compact class has offered so far. To demonstrate what those numbers translate to on track, Mercedes-AMG has released an onboard video from the Nürburgring Nordschleife. In late July, test driver Kevin Berger set a lap time of 7:32.070 minutes under notarized supervision. According to Mercedes-AMG, that time is a best in its segment.
Exactly which segment that refers to, though, is left unclear. Despite a roughly 200-horsepower advantage, the CLA 45 finishes a full seven seconds behind the current compact-class benchmark from Garching. The BMW M2 with Track Kit had claimed the top spot in early July with a time of 7:25.068 minutes, narrowly beating the 530-horsepower M2 CS (7:25.534 minutes). In the official records overview on nuerburgring.de, the new Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 appears under the category “Prototypes / Pre-production models” — where it actually sits in last place. Among electric vehicles as a whole, its time wouldn’t be good enough for the top spot in any category either.
One plausible reading is that Mercedes-AMG is pointing toward a category that simply doesn’t exist yet: a dedicated electric class within the compact segment. In that narrowly defined bracket, the CLA 45 would indeed be the class leader — though only because there’s no competition to speak of.
Regardless of how the classification debate shakes out, it’s clear that Nordschleife lap times are set to drop significantly over the coming years. A strong candidate for fast times is the upcoming BMW M3 (ZA0), which is expected to leave its combustion-engined predecessors far behind thanks to four electric motors and M eDrive technology. The gap appears to be substantial enough that M boss Frank van Meel made no secret of it in an interview over a year ago, stating that the electric M3 will be quicker on track than its combustion counterpart, the G84.
It also remains to be seen whether an M2 electric will arrive in the future, for now, we’ve heard that the brand is working on an M4 electric as well, dubbed the ZA2. [Photos: Mercedes-Benz]
