Mercedes-Benz has just released pictures and details of the Concept GLA ahead of the car’s debut at the Shanghai auto show. The production version will launch next year as a competitor to the BMW X1 and Audi Q3. The production GLA will be the fourth model built on Mercedes’s MFA front-wheel-drive architecture that underpins the A- and B-class models and the recently unveiled CLA sedan.
The concept, which debuts in Shanghai this Saturday, previews the production GLA’s look but it has flamboyant detailing, including projectors in the headlamps and cameras in the roof rails, that will not be on the production version. The production GLA will debut at the Frankfurt auto show in September. It will go on sale in global markets in Europe starting in spring 2014 and in the United States in September 2013. The car will be built at the Mercedes factory in Rastatt, Germany.
The five-door Concept GLA is powered by a transverse-mounted, direct-injection turbocharged four-cylinder engine that produces 208 hp. The production car is likely to have a choice of four gasoline and three diesel engines, depending on the market. The concept also has a 7-speed dual-transmission and the 4Matic all-wheel-drive system unveiled on the B class at the Geneva auto show in March. The concept has frameless doors like the CLA that are intended to provide it with some flair, but the production GLA will have conventional framed doors. More information to come right after its unveiling this weekend.
