New Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake Unveiled With 473 Miles Of EV Range

Like your estate cars small and electric, but find that the MG5, Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer and Peugeot e-308 SW aren’t quite posh enough? There’s good news for you, as the third-generation Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake is here, and while it’s launching with pure EV power, there’ll soon be a hybrid too.

Like its swoopy saloon sibling, the Shooting Brake comes with a choice of two EV powertrains. The entry-level 250+ gets a single rear axle motor, making 268bhp and 247lb ft. That’ll hit 62mph in 6.8 seconds and top out at 130mph, but the real headline-grabbing figure is its range on the WLTP cycle – 473 miles. That’s not quite the quoted 484 miles achieved by the equivalent saloon that makes it the longest-range EV on sale in Britain, but it ain’t half bad.

Want a bit more poke? You’ll need the dual-motor CLA 350 4MATIC, which ups power to 349bhp and torque to 380lb ft. It drops the 0-62mph run to 5.0 seconds, although top speed is the same 130mph as the single-motor car. Peak range, meanwhile, drops a little to a quoted 454 miles. Both electric versions use the same 85kWh battery pack, which can charge at up to 320kW and claw back 193 miles of range in 10 minutes on such a charger.

As for the hybrid, Merc’s yet to reveal details, but it’s entirely logical to expect it’ll be the same setup as the saloon, a mild hybrid with a 1.5-litre turbo four-pot paired up with a titchy 1.3kWh battery.

Inside, too, it’s entirely identical to the saloon besides the shape. That means it comes with Merc’s brand new in-house operating system, which drives many screens. Go the whole hog with ticking option boxes and your dash can become a 38.25-inch wall of screen, broken up into three displays: a 10.25-inch instrument display for the driver, a central 14-inch infotainment screen for everyone and an extra 14-inch screen just to keep the front passenger happy.

Estate-ish stuff? Boot volume is 455 litres with the back seats up and 1290 litres with them down, both drops versus the old CLA Shooting Brake, although the new EV compensates with a 101-litre frunk. Standard-fit roof rails, meanwhile, can support up to 75kg of stuff.

Its party piece, though, is the panoramic glass roof. This not only comes with the usual UV protection and optional electrochromatic trickery we’ve come to expect from these things, but the glass itself features 158 integrated light modules, giving you a Rolls-Royce-style starry sky effect at night (although the stars here are of the three-pointed variety, natch). They light up in the same shade as the interior ambient lighting.

The CLA Shooting Brake will launch fully in Europe next March, although exact UK specs and availability are yet to be confirmed. The saloon, though, kicks off at £45,615 here – expect a modest increase on that to get into the longroof.