Mercedes-AMG’s upcoming CLA Shooting Brake EQ is almost finished testing. But it hasn’t graduated quite yet: our photographer recently spotted it undergoing tough, presumably late-stage testing at the Nürburgring. For the two of you who don’t know, that’s a legendary 13-ish mile racetrack (which is also a public highway, legally) in Germany. It’s hosted some of the most iconic races of all time, and manufacturers absolutely love testing there.
The standout feature is undoubtedly the deployable active rear wing. It’s integrated into the liftgate-mounted spoiler and can adjust itself as needed to provide less drag, more drag, or a bit of extra downforce. Given the performance-forward nature of the upcoming AMG, the inclusion of one of these was pretty much a given.
Still, it’s nice to see it in action on an iconic race track.
Big changes have also been made to the front fascia. Fans will note the heavily revised front bumper, as well as the aero-efficient front grille. While the vehicle is heavily camouflaged, you may be able to make out the new outer-side intake ducts, and note that the lower grille opening has gotten a little larger.
If you look at the side shot, you’ll notice the vehicle’s hefty brake disks and red calipers. As those of you familiar with track driving know, brakes are pretty important, and standard brakes will overheat within a few corners. The hefty components hiding beneath the AMG-design rims show that this is a vehicle built for performance. Oh, and there’s a star logo in the headlights because that’s what Mercedes does.
This string of spy shots didn’t include a good look at the interior, though getting that kind of shot is hard when the target is belting around one of the world’s most demanding racetracks at high speed. So we’re giving the cameraman a little slack here. Still, we’ve heard that the CLA Shooting Brake EQ is going to be using the new MB.OS operating system. This comes with an AI-powered virtual assistant, as many vehicles do these days. Mercedes has built its navigation system on Google Maps. Plus, the inside is probably similar to what we saw in the upcoming GLA EQ, just tailored to fit the smaller vehicle.
The performance is there, but the sound may not be
If rumors are to be believed, the Mercedes-AMG CLA Shooting Brake EQ is packing an eye-watering 544 horsepower, which is produced by three axial flux motors working in tandem.
While Mercedes is yet to confirm the tri-motor setup, months of leaks, spy shots, and general speculation point towards the Shooting Brake EQ having this exact configuration.
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The vehicle is also rumored to be built on an 800-volt architecture, specifically the MMA (Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture) platform. Again, it hasn’t been confirmed officially, but with many of Mercedes’ rivals moving to an 800-volt setup, the German brand would be lagging behind if it rolled out the Mercedes-AMG CLA Shooting Brake EQ on a 400-volt architecture.
Higher voltage has a few advantages, it drops vehicle weight aiding performance, it’s more efficient so the powertrain uses less juice, and it greatly improves charging times. It’s speculated that you can get between 186 and 200 miles of range in just 10 minutes when you plug the Shooting Brake EQ into a 320 kW fast charging station.
Not everything about the new AMG is worth getting excited about, though. Mercedes seems to have fallen into the same trap as Dodge and many other performance manufacturers who’ve decided to go electric. The manufacturer is allegedly including a synthetic “V8” sound to the vehicle.
Unfortunately for Mercedes, people aren’t stupid. This is not a rant, but nobody likes hearing fake moans, least of all from performance vehicles. EVs can produce some unique sounds, the quietness of the motors allows the sound of the vehicle’s aerodynamics to shine through so why not do something there? They could at least do what many other EV manufacturers do and make the Shooting Brake sound like a biblically accurate angel. If I want to hear a V8 noise through a set of speakers I’ll just look it up on YouTube and blast it through the car stereo. But I’m not going to do that because it would be as stupid as including a fake engine noise on an EV.
Anyway, Mercedes is expected to unveil the CLA Shooting Brake EQ later in 2026. While North America is receiving the Mercedes-AMG CLA EQs sedan variant, it’s not yet confirmed that the US is getting the Shooting Brake EQ.
