Mercedes-Benz’s First Electric Wagon Is the New CLA Shooting Brake

The new Mercedes-Benz CLA is a big deal for the automaker, an all-electric compact or subcompact car that’s intended to be a showcase for Mercedes‘ latest and greatest tech—a showcase for the next generation of all-electric Mercedes-Benz cars as a whole. So it’s heartening that the company revealed a shooting brake version on Tuesday, ensuring that wagons will have a place in that world.

The new Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake is, in fact, the first all-electric station wagon from the marque, and among its topline features is a panoramic roof, more space, and the ability to get 192 miles in 10 minutes of charging, according to Mercedes. Perhaps more important, the CLA Shooting Brake can get up to 761 kilometers of range total, or around 472 miles. That’s as measured by the more forgiving WLTP standards in Europe, but impressive nonetheless, and probably a longer distance than most people would want to drive in one trip anyway.

Mercedes is marketing the CLA Shooting Brake to the adventure crowd, noting in its release that bicycles or surfboards easily fit on the roof, while two Jet Skis or motorcycles can be towed. There is more space inside compared to the outgoing version.

“It combines intelligent technology and efficiency to deliver a fresh, engaging driving experience,” Mathias Geisen, a Mercedes board member, said in a statement. “For our customers, this means more space for individuality, travelling and for their own personal lifestyle.”

There is a single electric motor version of the car that makes 268 horsepower, and gets to 62 mph in 6.8 seconds, while a more expensive two-motor version has 349 horsepower, all-wheel-drive, and gets to 62 mph in 5.0 seconds, all statistics that may never be spoken of again beyond Mercedes’s press release. And while the marque calls this a shooting brake, purists will point out that true shooting brakes only have two doors; what Mercedes has made is a station wagon instead, or an estate car as they’re called in the U.K. Still, shooting brake is more fun to say and more evocative, which is perhaps what the marque is going for.

The new CLA Shooting Brake will launch in Europe in March, and while no plans to sell it in the U.S. were announced, it’s unlikely, because the prior two versions weren’t sold here either. Pricing also wasn’t announced, though it’ll likely be around $50,000.

Click here for more photos of the new Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake.

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