Electric Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 Is Coming to Australia: 500kW and Three Motors, but No Price and No Firm Date

Image credit: Mercedes-Benz Australia. Overseas model shown.

The petrol Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 was built around its engine: a 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder that, in the CLA45 S we list, made 310kW in a compact sedan. Its replacement has no engine at all. Mercedes-Benz Australia has put the Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 electric 4MATIC+ on its website under a "Coming soon" banner, with a form to register your interest.

That is the confirmation, and it is worth being precise about how far it goes. The page says, in its own words, that the car "is not yet available in Australia", that the information and images are "a preview only based on overseas models and features", and that "vehicle specifications are yet to be confirmed." There is no price, no launch date and no local equipment list. So this is not a price-and-specs story yet. It is a story about what we know, what we do not, and what an Australian buyer should be watching for before this car is priced.

What Mercedes-Benz Australia Has Actually Said

Everything below comes from Mercedes-Benz Australia's own preview page for the car, checked on 1 October 2026, and every line of it sits under that "specifications yet to be confirmed" caveat:

• Three electric motors, two on the rear axle and one on the front, producing up to 500kW (680hp)
• A 94kWh, 800-volt AMG-specific battery with liquid cooling
• AMG Adaptive Suspension and AMG RIDE CONTROL
• An AMG high-performance steel braking system with large ventilated discs
• The AMGFORCE System: the sound of an AMG four-cylinder engine, vibration through the front seats and perceptible shift impulses, all of which the page says "comes as standard"
• An active rear spoiler, AMG-specific front and rear styling, and 19- to 20-inch wheels
• AMG Performance seats and steering wheel, and what the page calls an enlarged display concept
• Options shown include Night Package I and II and red MANUFAKTUR seat belts

The page also describes an AMG DYNAMIC PLUS package that adds red or black brake callipers, AMG sports tyres, Dynamic Control, Drift Mode, predictive performance management and a Race drive mode with AMG Track Pace. A footnote on the page marks the package as "optionally selectable equipment depending on configuration", so treat it as an option, not something every car will have, until Australian pricing and specification say otherwise.

One genuinely local detail is buried in the small print: the page says passenger display functions are limited for the Australian market, with selected entertainment features available only when the car is in Park, to meet local safety requirements. If you have seen overseas videos of a passenger watching a movie on the move, that will not be how it works here.

What Is Only Reported

Two things you will read elsewhere are not on any Mercedes-Benz Australia page we could find:

• Timing. It has been reported in Australian motoring media that Mercedes-Benz Australia expects the sedan to arrive in local showrooms during 2027. The company's own site says only "coming soon."
• The wagon. The CLA 45 was revealed overseas as a sedan and a Shooting Brake. It has been reported that the Shooting Brake is under consideration for Australia. Mercedes-Benz Australia's site shows only the sedan.

There has also been speculation about price. We are not going to repeat a guess as if it were a figure. When Mercedes-Benz Australia publishes a price, we will report it with its basis.

The Overseas Numbers, and Why They Are Not Australian Yet

Mercedes-Benz Germany already lists full technical data for the CLA 45 sedan. We are showing it because it tells you roughly what kind of car this is, not because it is what Australia will get. Local figures can differ on wheels, tyres, equipment and test standard, and Mercedes-Benz Australia has not published any of these.

Two lines in that table deserve a second look. The German technical data lists four seats, not five, and its equipment list describes a two-seat rear bench with a 40/20/40 folding backrest. If you are buying a small sedan partly because it carries three across the back, wait for the Australian specification before you commit. And the boot is listed at 390 litres, a little under the 405 litres we list for the CLA 350 4MATIC Electric. Mercedes has not said what accounts for the difference.

The weight is the other thing to be clear-eyed about. Germany lists 2,355kg measured the EU way, which includes an allowance for a driver. We list the outgoing petrol CLA45 S AMG 4MATIC+ at 1,660kg. The two figures are not measured the same way, but even allowing for that the new car carries somewhere around 600 to 700kg more. The three motors and 500kW are there to deal with that, and on paper they do: the petrol car we list at 310kW and 500Nm, and the electric car claims 3 seconds to 100km/h in Germany.

The Tax Line Is the Story Nobody Can Write Yet

For a lot of Australian electric car buyers, the most important number is not power or range. It is whether the car lands under the fuel-efficient luxury car tax threshold, which is $91,661 for the 2026-27 financial year. Above it, luxury car tax applies at 33 per cent of the GST-inclusive amount over the line, and the car falls outside the fringe benefits tax exemption that makes a novated lease on an electric car so attractive. Changes to that exemption have also been announced to apply from 1 April 2027, so the rules could be different again by the time this car is delivered. This is general information, not tax advice.

Here is why that matters for this car in particular. Mercedes already sells two electric CLAs in Australia. We list the CLA 200 Electric at $72,200 and the CLA 350 4MATIC Electric at $91,300, both before on-road costs and both checked against Mercedes-Benz Australia's site. The CLA 350 sits just $361 under the threshold. That is a very small margin: anything added to the price that takes it past $361 puts it over.

Mercedes has not said where the AMG will be priced against the CLA 350, and we are not going to guess. What we can say is that the CLA 350 we list has 260kW, and the AMG preview page promises 500kW, a third motor, adaptive suspension and AMG brakes. If a novated lease is part of your plan, the practical advice is simple: do not build a budget around the FBT exemption until the price is out, and when it is, check it against the threshold that applies on the day your lease starts, not the day you read about it.

What It Sits Beside, and What It Is Up Against

The electric AMG CLA 45 is not on sale, so it is not in the comparison below. What is in it are the cars you can buy today: the two electric CLAs Mercedes already sells, and the quick electric sedans a buyer at this end of the market is already looking at. Pick any two.

Some context from the cars we hold with checked prices. The Tesla Model 3 Performance AWD is listed at $80,900 before on-roads with 343kW, a claimed 3.1 seconds to 100km/h and 571km of WLTP range. The Polestar 2 Long Range Dual Motor with Performance Pack is $85,080 with 350kW and 568km. The MG IM5 Performance 100 AWD is $80,990 drive-away with 572kW, a claimed 2.7 seconds and 575km. All three are under the 2026-27 fuel-efficient luxury car tax line at those listed prices.

Further up, the Hyundai IONIQ 6 N brings 448kW, a claimed 3.2 seconds and 487km WLTP in the figures we list, and in spirit it is arguably the closest of these cars to what the AMG is trying to be: a quick electric sedan built to be fun rather than just fast. The BMW i4 M50 xDrive is the obvious German rival, with 400kW and 465km WLTP in our listing. And the Audi S e-tron GT, also 500kW, is listed at $209,900, while the MG IM5 above makes more power for well under half that. Neither is a hint at the CLA 45's price, which nobody outside Mercedes knows.

The AMGFORCE System is the part that will divide people. Whether a four-cylinder soundtrack and seat vibration are a reason to buy is entirely personal. Some buyers will find it charming. Others will wonder why they are paying for an electric car that pretends it is not one. The Australian preview page says it comes as standard, though that page is a preview based on overseas cars.

What Mercedes Has Not Told Us Yet

Before anyone can say whether this car is good value in Australia, Mercedes-Benz Australia still needs to publish:

• A price, and its basis: before on-road costs or drive-away.
• A date. 2027 is reported, not confirmed by the company.
• The local specification: whether the AMG DYNAMIC PLUS package is an option here and at what price, which wheels are fitted, and whether Australian cars are four-seaters like the German car.
• Range and charging figures for Australia. Range in particular moves with wheel and tyre choices.
• Towing. No braked towing figure has been published for the CLA 45 electric anywhere we looked.
• An ANCAP rating. We hold none for this variant, so treat it as no data.
• The Shooting Brake. Reported as under consideration, not confirmed.

Who Should Wait, and Who Should Not

If you want a compact, very quick Mercedes and you are paying cash, it is reasonable to register your interest and wait. The car is confirmed for Australia, even if its details are not. Just go in knowing that, on the German figures, it is a lot heavier than the petrol car, and that the German car is a four-seater.

If you want an electric CLA on a novated lease, the car to look at is the one you can buy now. The CLA 350 4MATIC Electric is all-wheel drive, is listed with 663km of WLTP range against 470km for the CLA 200 Electric, and sits under the threshold at its list price. Anything added to the list price that takes it $361 higher puts it over, so price it carefully.

If you loved the old petrol CLA 45 for its engine, this is not that car and it is not trying to be. The fact that Mercedes gives it the sound of an AMG four-cylinder tells you it knows exactly what some of its buyers will miss.

We will add the electric Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 to the CarSorted directory as soon as Mercedes-Benz Australia publishes a price and specification, and you can line up the electric CLAs against their rivals now in the comparison tool.