It’s raining crossovers all over the world and no one wants to be left behind, even the big German manufacturers who have traditionally built large V8 engined Autobahn cruisers have decided to jump ship and create smaller cars. Among them is Mercedes-Benz who has unveiled their GLA crossover.
The GLA concept car was first unveiled at the Shanghai Motor Show in April and features many modern design cues that we can expect to see on future Mercedes-Benz cars. The production version that was unveiled last month is of a less extreme form of the concept car but retains many of the design cues.
Rather than consider it a smaller version of any of the German automaker’s SUVs, we should look at it as a beefed up version of the A-Class hatchback. This is evident in the headlights, the C-pillar, the front fenders and the overall interiors all look like it has been adopted from the pages of the A-Class design book.
The first variant on offer from the GLA range will be powered a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged engine that makes 210PS power and 350Nm torque. Power transmission will be carried out by a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and will drive and will drive all four wheels thanks to the company’s 4Matic system. For the Indian market we also expect the 2.2-litre oil burner that powers the A and the B-Class. It will make use of the same seven-speed dual clutch but will power the front wheels in a bid to keep the cost of the car down.
There is also expected to be an AMG spec version that will be powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged mill that has been tuned to produce somewhere in the region of 337PS and 450Nm of torque. This engine too will be mated to the seven-speed dual clutch automatic transmission. It will get an AMG spec body kit, different alloy wheels and obviously some of the insane tuning that has made AMG famous over the last three decades.
When launched in the middle of 2014, the GLA is expected to be priced in the range Rs 27-Rs 30 lakh for the top spec diesel engined version. It will compete with the Audi Q3, BMW X1 and the Volvo V40 Cross Country.
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