2026 Mercedes CLA350 EV

Posted by Talbot Payne on July 21, 2026

Jellybean. While the interior of the 2026 Mercedes CLA350 EV is over the top, the streamlined exterior could be confused for other sedans.

Jellybean. While the interior of the 2026 Mercedes CLA350 EV is over the top, the streamlined exterior could be confused for other sedans.

Henry Payne, The Detroit New

Hell — ZOT! Like a greased jellybean, my Mercedes CLA 350 sedan shot onto I-75. Past a line of traffic. Headed to the moon.

Quiet as a mouse.

Nine years after the Tesla Model 3 sedan became an overnight sensation and ushered in a new age of performance electric vehicles, it’s, well … playing second fiddle to the Model Y. Model 3’s SUV doppelganger, introduced in 2019, now outsells the sedan by three-fold in a country ga-ga for utes. From the rugged Rivian R2 to the flashy Mustang Mach-E to the sculpted Hyundai Ioniq 5, automakers are drafting electric Model Y rivals en masse.

The CLA EV (which shares the CLA-Class model lineup with gas/hybrid variants) is one of the few sedans that has dared take on the Model 3.

It does so with trademark luxury, comfort, straight-line speed, style and convenience. Asterisks on style and convenience. Walk up to my $67K, all-wheel-drive CLA (the rear-wheel-drive CLA 250 starts at $48.5K) and you might mistake it for a Hyundai Ioniq 6 — another Model 3 competitor shelved this year (only the coming, estimated-$70K track-focused Ioniq 6 N will remain). Jellybean shape, horizontal rear taillight, ducktail, flush door handles.

Mercedes only comes into focus with its giant star logo planted on a black, plastic grille under a Hyundai Sonta-like monobrow. It’s busy … un-Mercedes like.

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