Mercedes-Benz CLA officially unveiled

Mercedes-Benz has shown its latest product - the A-Class-based four-door coupe CLA. The new car was previewed in Beijing in 2012 as the Concept Style Coupe and in production form, it remains true to the original. It goes on sale this June with prices rumoured to start at around £22,000.

It's a big year for Mercedes-Benz - its biggest-selling car, the facelifted E-Class, has already been revealed, but the CLA is a new product that doesn't replace any existing model. And that means the company will be chasing buyers from rival manufacturers in a bid to establish the new car.

It's a clever car - because it's being sold as pint-sized CLS (leaving room for a future for a possible CLB, based on the C-Class) at near C-Class money. And even though it's based on the A-Class, it's 39mm longer and 10mm lower than a C-Class saloon. Most impressively, the CLA is now the most aerodynamic production car available today.

Like the CLS, it's low in relation to its length. So it's like a sporting coupe that just happens to have four-doors. The big news is that it will be fitted with the Collision Prevention Assist and Attention Assist driver safety systems.

Mercedes-Benz hasn't confirmed pricing but the CLA is set to go on sale in the UK in June. Engine options will be the 1.6-litre 122PS petrol (CLA 180), 2.0-litre 211PS petrol (CLA 250) and the 170PS 2.1-litre diesel (CLA 220 CDI). Images of the CLA 45 AMG are already circulating and this car, like the rest of the CLA range, will be powered by a four-cylinder engine (2.0-litre turbo with more than 300PS and 4Matic four-wheel drive).

Model overview