The CLA compact saloon was a runaway hit in the US, with Mercedes-Benz USA boss Steve Cannon acknowledging that “this is the best launch in 20 years; it has been a phenomenal success right out of the gate”.
Making hay of the fact that the CLA was the first Merc to drop under the US$30,000 mark, with an MSRP of US$29,900 excluding delivery, its average stay in the dealerships’ courtyard is less than 10 days, compared to the industry average of 60. Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said that, if the inventory was sufficient, “we could have sold twice as many”.
There’s a flipside to that coin: if there’s such a high demand, why not make an extra buck by increasing the price a bit? Thus, the sub-30k Merc is no more as the base 2015 CLA 250 starts from US$31,500, which rises to US$32,425 when you add the destination charge.
Sure, it’s still a nice price for a premium compact saloon (or is it four-door coupe?) with 208hp and the three-pointed star at its grille but, nonetheless, it is US$1,600 up from the 2014 model.
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