2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake Coming to Australia: A Hybrid and Electric Wagon, and What Mercedes Has Actually Confirmed

Image credit: Mercedes-Benz Australia. Overseas model shown; Mercedes-Benz Australia says the vehicle is not yet available here and appearance may differ.

Mercedes-Benz is bringing a wagon back to Australia. Its local site now carries a coming-soon page for the all new CLA and CLA Electric Shooting Brake, the long-roof version of the CLA sedan that went on sale here earlier this year, with a register-your-interest form and a plain warning: "This vehicle is not yet available in Australia." The information and images, it adds, are a preview based on overseas models and features, and vehicle specifications are yet to be confirmed.

So there is no price list to pick apart yet. What there is, is a clear shape: a small premium wagon in both mild-hybrid and electric form, built on the same hardware as a sedan whose prices we already know. That is enough to work out where it is likely to sit, which tax lines it will be fighting, and whether a wagon badge actually buys you the load space you might expect. Here is what is confirmed, what is only reported, and what it means if you are shopping in this bracket now.

What Mercedes-Benz Australia Has Confirmed

Everything in this table comes from Mercedes-Benz Australia's coming-soon page, checked on 1 October 2026, and every line carries Mercedes' own caveat that it is a preview based on overseas cars.

That is a thin page, and it is worth being clear about what it does not say. It never names a variant, never gives a power figure, never says whether any Australian car is all-wheel drive, and never mentions a plug-in hybrid. The one equipment item it flags either way is the MBUX Superscreen, which it calls optional. Everything else a buyer would normally want, from boot space to charging speed, is absent.

One more thing we checked: the CLA Shooting Brake page is the only estate model page in Mercedes-Benz Australia's passenger car sitemap as at 1 October 2026. In other words, if you want a new Mercedes wagon today, there is no model page for one on the Australian site. This is the car that fills that gap.

What Is Only Reported So Far

At least two Australian outlets, writing separately, report that Mercedes-Benz Australia told them the Shooting Brake arrives in the fourth quarter of 2026, which means some time between October and December. One of them reports Mercedes-Benz Australia as saying features and specification would be almost identical to the sedan, while also noting it is unclear which of the sedan's trims the wagon will come in. None of that is on Mercedes' own page, so treat the timing as reported, and treat "almost identical to the sedan" as a direction rather than a specification.

The overseas dimensions have also been reported, and they are the most useful numbers in this story for a wagon buyer. As reported, the figures below are Mercedes' overseas numbers and are not confirmed for an Australian car.

Read that table again, because it changes what this car is. The wagon is reported to be the same length as the sedan on the same wheelbase. The longer roof buys you a reported 50 extra litres with the seats up, not a longer car. It is a sleeker, more practical CLA, not a smaller E-Class wagon.

On the sedan side, the powertrains are known. We list three 48-volt mild hybrids (the CLA 180 at 100kW and 200Nm, the CLA 200 at 120kW and 250Nm, and the all-wheel drive CLA 220 4MATIC at 140kW and 300Nm) and two electric cars: the rear-drive CLA 200 Electric with a 58kWh battery and 470km WLTP, and the dual-motor CLA 350 4MATIC Electric with an 85kWh battery and 663km WLTP. It would be easy to write those into the wagon. We are not going to, because Mercedes-Benz Australia has not, and a longer roof, a taller body and more weight at the back can move range and efficiency figures on an electric car.

Where the Price Could Land, and Why the Tax Lines Matter

There is no wagon price. What there is, is the sedan ladder, which is the only honest reference point. These are the CLA sedan prices we list, before on-road costs, last checked against Mercedes-Benz Australia's site in July:

Wagons usually cost a little more than the sedan they are based on, and Australian outlets expect the same here. That is a reasonable guess, and it is still a guess. Mercedes has not said whether the wagon will cost more, the same, or come with a different equipment list that makes the comparison apples to oranges. But the sedan prices show exactly where the pressure points are, and they are all tax lines.

The luxury car tax line

For the 2026-27 financial year, the luxury car tax threshold is $91,661 for fuel-efficient vehicles and $80,809 for everything else. An electric car always gets the higher one. The CLA 350 4MATIC Electric sedan at $91,300 sits just $361 under it. A wagon premium of more than $361 on an equivalent variant, or more than $361 of options on the sedan, puts the car over the line, and luxury car tax is then payable on the amount above it. Mercedes may well price the wagon around that, but it has nowhere near as much room as the price gap between the other variants suggests.

The mild-hybrid wagons are a different sum. Since 1 July 2025 a car only gets the higher threshold if its combined fuel figure is 3.5L/100km or less, which is plug-in hybrid territory. Mercedes-Benz Australia has not published a fuel figure for the Shooting Brake. We list the mild-hybrid sedans at 5.4 to 5.8L/100km, well above 3.5, so on our figures the sedans are judged against the lower $80,809 line, and a mild-hybrid wagon would need to be far more frugal than the sedan to do any better. On that line, an all-wheel drive version priced anywhere near the CLA 220 4MATIC sedan at $84,300 would be over it.

The novated lease line

For a lot of electric car buyers in Australia the number that matters is not the price but whether the car is exempt from fringe benefits tax on a novated lease. As general information for 2026-27, an electric car qualifies only if its value is under the $91,661 threshold. The government has also announced that from 1 April 2027 the full exemption is limited to electric cars valued at $75,000 or less, with a reduced benefit above that. If the wagon arrives in the fourth quarter of 2026 as reported, many buyers will be signing leases on either side of that date.

Now look at the CLA 200 Electric sedan: $72,200 before on-roads, which leaves $2,800 of headroom under $75,000 before options. A CLA 200 Electric Shooting Brake priced more than $2,800 above the sedan would miss the full exemption for cars first provided from 1 April 2027. That is the single most important number Mercedes has not yet published, and it is the one to ask your lease provider about the day prices appear. The mild-hybrid wagons are not eligible for the electric car exemption at all.

Is It Actually a Practical Wagon?

This is where the Shooting Brake needs an honest look. If the reported 455 litres holds for Australia, it is a modest boot for a wagon. Among the wagons we list on sale today, the Skoda Superb Wagon Sportline has 634 litres with the seats up, the Toyota bZ4X Touring 603 litres, and the CUPRA Leon Sportstourer VZe 470 litres. The CLA wagon's reported figure sits at the bottom of that group, and much closer to a hatchback than to a family estate.

That is not a criticism so much as a description. The Shooting Brake is a style wagon: a low, sleek car that happens to have a hatch and a longer roof, for people who want a little more everyday flexibility than the sedan's boot lid gives them and do not want an SUV. If you are carrying a pram, a large dog or a mountain bike every weekend, the numbers say look elsewhere first.

Towing is another unknown. Mercedes-Benz Australia has not published a towing figure for the Shooting Brake, and our rows for the new CLA sedan do not carry one either. If you need a tow rating for a bike rack or a small trailer, wait for the Australian specification sheet, then run your numbers through our TowingSorted planner.

What It Is Up Against

Wagons are a small corner of the Australian market, and electric ones smaller still. Of the new cars we currently list as on sale with a wagon body, only two are fully electric: the Toyota bZ4X Touring AWD, which is closer to a raised crossover than a traditional estate, and the BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring, which is a much larger, high-performance car. That is a statement about our listings, not the whole market, but it shows how thin the electric wagon choice is right now.

With checked prices, the bZ4X Touring AWD is $69,990 before on-road costs, with 280kW, a 74.7kWh battery and 488km WLTP. The CUPRA Leon Sportstourer VZe, a plug-in hybrid wagon, is $76,610 drive-away in Victoria, and the Skoda Superb Wagon Sportline 195TSI 4x4 is $74,990 drive-away in Victoria. Those are the figures we list, on the basis each brand publishes, so the drive-away prices are not directly comparable with a before-on-roads figure. The CLA sedans in the comparison below are the other obvious reference: the wagon is expected to sit above them, at a price nobody has published yet.

One more comparison is worth making, and it is inside the Mercedes range. The CLA Shooting Brake is not the first CLA wagon sold here: we list the previous-generation CLA 200 Shooting Brake from the second half of the last decade. That car came with petrol and diesel engines. The new one adds an electric version, and it is the first CLA wagon that has to be priced with the electric car FBT exemption in mind, because that exemption did not exist until 2022, after the old wagon had gone.

What Mercedes Has Not Told Us Yet

• Prices, and whether Mercedes will quote the wagon before on-road costs or as an estimated drive-away figure, as it does for some models on its site.
• The variant list. Five sedans exist. Nobody outside Mercedes knows how many of them will have a Shooting Brake twin.
• Battery sizes, range and charging speeds for the electric wagon, and fuel use for the mild hybrid, which decides which LCT threshold applies.
• Boot volume, kerb weight and towing for Australian cars.
• An ANCAP rating. We hold none for the Shooting Brake, and a rating for a different body style is not something we carry across.
• A firm date. The fourth quarter of 2026 is what outlets report Mercedes told them. It is not on Mercedes' own page.

What This Means for Buyers

If you like the CLA but the sedan's boot lid is the deal-breaker, the wagon is worth waiting a few months for, and registering interest costs nothing. Just go in knowing the reported gain is 50 litres with the seats up, not a family-wagon boot.

If you want the electric version on a novated lease, the date and the price matter more than usual. A CLA 200 Electric Shooting Brake priced within a few thousand dollars of the sedan could sit under the $75,000 line that applies from 1 April 2027. Priced much above that, it will not, and the sedan, which is on sale today, may make more sense. Do the sums on the actual price and delivery date, not today's headlines.

If you need real wagon space, the Superb and the bZ4X Touring give you more of it for money we can actually quote, and the CUPRA gives you a plug-in hybrid option. If you simply want a small, sleek Mercedes with a hatch and do not mind waiting for the details, this is the only estate Mercedes-Benz Australia has a page for right now.

We will add the CLA Shooting Brake to the CarSorted directory with full specifications once Mercedes-Benz Australia publishes them.