Baby CLS In The Works

It seems that the German automaker Mercedes will add another four-door coupe to its lineup in the following years. After the facelift of the CLS, company insiders have now confirmed that a junior version of this model is in the works. The design of the new model will be inspired from the CLS and the gorgeous F800 Concept that we saw last year in Geneva, and will be the company’s smallest coupe.

This baby CLS will be underpinned by the company’s new front-wheel drive MFA platform, which will also be used for the next-generation A-Class and B-Class. Mercedes is hoping that with this new model they will attract a younger audience, and it will slot it below the facelift C-Class Coupe as a more practical replacement for the outgoing CLC.

We can’t tell you for sure what engines will this new model get, but we wouldn’t be surprised if there are going to be some turbocharged 1.4- and 1.8-liter power units borrowed from Renault, which will most likely supply a 1.6-liter diesel. Two more powerful engines, this time made by Mercedes, will be the 2.0-litre gasoline and the 2.2-liter diesel, producing about 200 hp and 170 hp respectively.

This power will be sent to the front wheels via a 6-speed manual / 7-speed double-clutch automatic transmission. The aforementioned MFA platform has been developed by Mercedes with alternative propulsion methods in mind, which means that a hybrid version might be launched, probably after the conventional-powered model.

The new baby CLS should hit the showrooms sometime in 2014, and it will be one of the company’s four new models based on the MFA architecture, along with the new A-Class and B-Class, plus a small SUV.

Source: AutoExpress

Post tags: Tags: mercedes baby cls