“We have lost customers,” said last year the CEO of Mercedes-AMG, Michael Schiebe. The reason? Replacing the V8 in its best-selling model with a four-cylinder to make it a plug-in hybrid. And curiously the head of Mercedes-Benz has an odd opinion about the latest offspring from Affalterbach, 100% electric: it has the best V8 AMG he has driven.
Thus Ola Källenius described the feeling he had when he first got behind the wheel of the Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 4MATIC+, the most hardcore in the sedan range and freshly unveiled at Goodwood. This electric car with nearly 700 hp features a driving mode that imitates a petrol engine, as a way to reconnect with Mercedes-AMG’s more traditional customers. And what better hook than to say it feels like a V8 now that orders have just opened and prices have been announced.
An electric car Mercedes-AMG wants you to forget is electric
“When I first drove the AMG CLA 45 with that system, I felt like a born-again Christian. It was the best V8 I have ever driven: it had all the sensations of a V8, but with more power and torque,” admitted the Mercedes-Benz CEO a few days ago in an interview with Autocar. An electric car that hides its electric nature even in its name: it’s the same as its gasoline predecessor.
Källenius is referring to the AMG Force S+ driving mode of this Mercedes-AMG CLA 45. The performance brand describes it as “an authentic, typically AMG experience” because “it offers the sensations typical of a car with an internal combustion engine.” When the accelerator is pressed one hears “the characteristic sound of a high-performance AMG four-cylinder.” It also includes traction interruption during the simulated gear changes and bursts typical of a powerful engine.
“It makes the driving experience very much like that of an earlier, gasoline AMG,” promises Mercedes AMG. So much so that, according to Källenius, that simulated four-cylinder delivers the sensations of a full-blown V8. It’s not surprising he makes that comparison, perhaps more a product of marketing and the need to persuade with an electric AMG: V8 blocks are the badge of tradition for Mercedes-AMG.
In fact, the new strategy of Mercedes’ performance division will be to launch formidable pure-electric models, such as this AMG CLA 45, alongside traditional internal-combustion models that are supported or not by electrification. “Consumers are not yet fully prepared” for pure electrification, admits Källenius.
The crown jewel is a completely new flat-crank V8. The Mercedes CEO has confirmed to Autocar that this engine will be key in its investment strategy for combustion technology: “We will need it for many years, especially for sports cars.”
An electric with almost 700 hp and more than 1,700 Nm of torque. The Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 4MATIC+ is the latest offspring from Affalterbach, unveiled in July at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and setting a category record at Nürburgring. It has just opened orders in Germany, starting at €79,039.
It combines three axial-flow electric motors, two on the rear axle and one on the front, which together deliver 680 hp (500 kW) and 1,759 Nm, considerably higher than the 421 hp and 500 Nm of the thermal AMG CLA 45 S that it follows years later. It does 0-100 km/h in 3.0 seconds (versus 4.1 seconds of the previous) and reaches 270 km/h with the AMG Dynamic Plus package. It adds goodies like the AMG Ride Control or AMG adaptive suspension, as well as seven driving modes with which the brand aims to make it both an electric and a genuine AMG.
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