Video | New Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 4MATIC+
If you thought the AMG GT 4-Door was AMG’s most controversial product yet brace yourself for the 680 horsepower CLA 45!
Words by: Dan Trent
Published on 13 July 2026 | 0 min read
AMG was built on squeezing unnecessarily powerful motors into unsuspecting Mercedes and then letting rip. Back then it was big V8 petrol engines. These days it’s electric motors. But the result is the same. Enter the new CLA 45 4Matic+, which at first glance looks like a mash-up between the incredibly efficient electrified CLA and the outrageous (and controversial) GT 4-Door. As Alex Legouix finds out … that’s pretty much sums it up!
Big petrol engines may have gone but big power is very much still the order of the day, the CLA’s triple-motor set-up unleashing a maximum of 680 horsepower and a frankly ridiculous 1,759Nm of torque via some very clever tech. For context that’s more than three times the figure of the previous petrol-powered CLA 45 AMG!
The results are suitably staggering, with 0-62mph in three seconds dead or 2.7 seconds with a Tesla style ‘rollout’ deducted. However you crunch it, that’s fast. As Alex discovers, this isn’t a car without its controversies, though. But we’ll let her explain – and demonstrate – more on that!
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