Production of the India bound Mercedes-Benz CLA sedan has begun at the German automakers Hungarian plant in Kecskemet. The car will make its official debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show in March with deliveries expected to begin in April. The start of production of the CLA is most likely a step by the automaker in anticipation of major demand like they got with the A-Class.
The baby CLS is the third vehicle to be built on Mercedes-Benz’s MFA (Modular Front Architecture) platform and is the first exclusively built vehicle from the plant. The rolling out of the first car off the production line was celebrated in the presence of Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban and Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Daimler Board and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
The CLA is powered by the same set of engines that sit in the A-Class hatchback and will also share many of the interior components as well as underpinnings. It will be offered with three petrol engines producing 122bhp (CLA 180) 156bhp (CLA 200) and 211bhp (CLA 250) and one diesel mill which produces 170bhp (CLA 220 CDI).
Power will be transmitted to the wheels via a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox and the (optional) 4matic four-wheel drive system. The three pointed star has also confirmed that an AMG version dubbed CLA 45 AMG (335bhp) will make its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September next year.
We can expect that Mercedes-Benz will launch the car for the Indian market by the end of the year. It is likely that they bring the car in CKD form. The CLA will join the B-Class and the A-Class (to be launched by the middle of the year) as the third car in Mercedes Benz’s five model sub Rs 25 lakh range which it plans to launch here by 2015.
