It launched with great fanfare. Autogefühl, on his YouTube channel, marvelled at the new German-engineered 1.5-litre hybrid petrol engine and declared the CLA hybrid a game changer. However, the new Mercedes CLE hybrid is actually using Chinese-built engines. Admittedly, social media picked up on this a few days earlier—but here we are.
Mercedes would like you to believe that this shiny new 1.5-liter engine is something they bravely and independently “developed” in a spotless German laboratory. Which is mostly true—except for the small detail that it was co-developed with Geely and will be built in China before being shipped back to Mercedes to be gently installed with great confidence. Think of it less as “Made in Germany” and more as “Assembled with German facial expressions.”
Still, size isn’t everything. This compact little unit uses the Miller cycle, which is engineering shorthand for “we’ve tried very hard to make it efficient.” It features an all-aluminum crankcase and Mercedes’ clever Nanoslide coating on the cylinder walls, designed to reduce friction, improve longevity, and give engineers something impressive to point at during presentations.
Because no one wants their premium compact sedan to sound like a washing machine full of cutlery, Mercedes has also attacked noise with enthusiasm. Extra insulation has been stuffed into the engine bay, the A-pillars, and even under the floor, all in the name of serenity. The engine is paired with an electric motor neatly tucked into an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, powered by a 48-volt lithium-ion battery with 1.3 kWh of capacity.
The clever bit is that, under the right conditions, the CLA 220 can waft along on electric power alone at speeds of up to 60 mph—silently judging other motorists. It can also recover up to 25 kW of energy when braking, which sounds impressive and, in fairness, actually is.
All of this wizardry results in a combined output of 208 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque. That’s enough to get the CLA 220 from 0 to 60 mph in 7.1 seconds, on to a top speed of 130 mph, while carrying around a not-insignificant 3,594 pounds.
