The petrol CLA 45 is dead, and what replaced it changes everything
The compact AMG drops its record turbo four for three axial-flux motors, 1,759 Nm of torque and a 0–100 sprint in three seconds flat.
The Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 used to be a petrol super-saloon with a record-breaking 2.0-litre turbo four. Not anymore. The new generation is fully electric, and hidden beneath the body sits a trio of axial-flux motors: one up front, two at the rear. Peak output — 680 hp. Continuous — 612 hp. This is no longer AMG’s ‘junior’ model.
The gap with the old CLA 45 isn’t just noticeable — it’s a chasm. The petrol AMG made 416 hp and 500 Nm. The electric one? 1,759 Nm. Think about that: torque more than tripled. Both the sedan and the Shooting Brake estate rocket to 100 km/h in three seconds. Top speed with the AMG Dynamic Plus package is 270 km/h, and 250 km/h without it. On paper this is practically a super-saloon squeezed into a compact body.
The battery holds 94 kWh of usable capacity. The sedan covers up to 670 km on the WLTP cycle, the estate up to 640 km. Charging is serious too: up to 330 kW, 10 to 80% in 22 minutes, and up to 270 km of range added in just ten minutes. To save energy, the front motor switches off when it isn’t needed — and the car drives like a rear-wheel-drive machine.
But the most contentious part here isn’t the tech. AMG is desperately trying to keep the ritual alive. The CLA 45 fakes gearshifts, mimics the sound of a four-cylinder combustion engine, buzzes the seats with vibrations. The dash has a gear indicator and even a tachometer. Affalterbach knows the truth: you can’t hold onto AMG fans with silence alone.
Paying for that muscle came at a cost. The Shooting Brake weighs 2,295 kg, the sedan just 15 kg less. For a CLA, that’s a lot. But the market has stopped arguing: BMW M, Audi RS and Mercedes-AMG are all marching away from lightness towards power, batteries and software.
Here’s the bigger picture. AMG is no longer simply swapping a petrol engine for electricity — it’s trying to sell you the memory of an internal-combustion car inside an EV. And that, it seems, will prove far harder than a three-second sprint.