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2019 Mercedes GLA-Class Spied at the Nurburgring, Still Looks Like a Hatch

Mercedes developed the QX30 for Infiniti using its own platform. However, it seems like some of the philosophy from that car rubbed off on the next-generation GLA-Class.
2019 Mercedes GLA-Class Spied at the Nurburgring, Still Looks Like a Hatch 3 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot
2019 Mercedes GLA-Class Spied Testing at the Nurburgring, Still Looks Like a Hatch2019 Mercedes GLA-Class Spied Testing at the Nurburgring, Still Looks Like a Hatch
We all expected the second generation model to look more like a crossover since that's what Americans mostly complained about. However, a test prototype was recently spotted at the Nurburgring with a body that looks just like the A-Class hatchback.

We admit that the body could just be temporary, used for testing while designers figure out the real deal. But the GLA has been testing for about a year, and the mule phase rarely takes that long, especially for a mainstream car.

So, the GLA really might be a jacked up A-Class with beefier body cladding. You can see some examples of that in the way the fenders stick out or how the rear bumper is more muscular. Also, we don't see the fake exhaust tips from the hatchback.

Even if they don't do anything to the body, it's still going to be more practical than before, with a larger trunk and more legroom. In our opinion, the coolness of the MBUX infotainment will make looking at the BMW X2 dash unpleasant.

The GLA engines are going to be shared across a wide variety of models. In fact, this Nurburgring prototype sounds suspiciously like the A 200 we checked out a few days ago. We're talking about a 1.3-liter turbo, the smallest ever fitted to a Mercedes crossover and likely to be available with 136 and 163 HP power outputs.

The most powerful version will continue to be the GLA 250 with 225 HP instread of the previous 211. Later on, at least one AMG model will be added, either the 300+ HP GLA 35/40 or the 400+ HP GLA 50/53. According to a report we received earlier today, two plug-in hybrids could also coming.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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