But wait, there's already an A-Class sedan and it's called the CLA? Yes. I mean no. Actually I mean both, because the CLA will come again on this new platform but, as before, it is really a four-door coupe saloon. Whereas this sedan is just so. And if you're not following then we urge you not to lose too much sleep as it's been developed solely for the Chinese market (for now), where it will battle the BMW 2 Series sedan.
Also, note the 'L' in its name, typically for long-wheel base or limousine if you’re feeling gracious, a throwback to a time when Chinese businessmen would be chauffeured in their cars. The design according to the marketing blurb is a philosophy of Sensual Purity, which I think means it’s all swooshy. There’s a lot of space between the wheels (limo remember?) with excessively short overhangs giving it a truncated appearance.
A long bonnet, strong hip line and chrome accents makes for an attractive car with strong premium overtones, a Mercedes-Benz then, made all the more luxurious by sharing the A-Class hatchback’s svelte new techno-laden cabin.
Now this you should care about, as at least we’ll get the hatch in South Africa. MBUX to give it its full title, or Mercedes-Benz User Experience has artificial intelligence now, so that’s new. It has a learning program that works with WeChatMyCar (honestly, who names these things?), voice control and speech recognition. And all this while we thought the Terminators would come from Skynet, they’re in fact already here from Germany by way of China. Exciting.
Power comes from a 1.3 litre turbo engine in either 120kW or 120kW output configurations at first, with a 2.0 litre (140kW) derivative down the line. All will transfer power to the front wheels via the 7G-DCT auto transmission, which means very little now since you’ve just realised that the machines are just a few steps away from singularity and we should all just stick to bicycles instead.
But that could just be me.
