The Mercedes-Benz CLA is not a bad looking car, but it’s not particularly long and therefor rear legroom is not its strongest selling point. However, if the Stuttgart-based automaker wants to sell its new front-wheel drive four-door coupe in any kind of meaningful numbers in China, a major market, a modification to its wheelbase is required – it needs to be stretched.
It seems like a natural move, since the car’s platform is easier to alter, as all the important mechanical bits are concentrated at the front. Now, according to a report by German publication AMS, it is apparently going to actually happen. It’s not going arrive over night, but by 2015, it should enter production locally, in the People’s Republic.
Currently the Stuttgart automaker builds the C-Class, E-Class and GLK in the country, and these models will be joined as of next year by the A-Class and B-Class.
This would be the second variation of the CLA formula, which has yet to prove itself viable – not saying it’s bad, but not enough time has passed in order to judge. The first one is a shooting brake/estate/wagon model, which again sounds like a pretty neat idea, and it would precede the long-wheelbase variant by one year.
By Andrei Nedelea
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