At the Auto Expo that happened in February 2020, the New Mercedes-Benz GLA was showcased, with its expected launch slotted for October 2020. While that is a little bit of a question, whether it will happen in October, Mercedes has assured, for now, they will be launching it in Q4 2020 for sure.

Along with the showcase, bookings were also opened for the New GLA. And for every booking and every month of wait, Mercedes-Benz promised to fund education of underprivileged children through its collaboration with Laureus Sports for Good Foundation in India.

So what exactly is coming in the second generation of the GLA?

When launched, it is expected to come with the base model GLA 200, powered by a 163hp, 1.3-litre, 4-cyl turbo charged petrol engine, mated to a standard 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. It should do 0-100kmph in 8.7s and achieve a top speed of 211kmph.

What would be more interesting, if it arrives, as is currently expected, is the Mercedes-AMG GLA 35. That one is a four-wheel drive, making 306hp from a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine. If you ask me, I would be rooting for the GLA 45 AMG to arrive at our shores.

And is there an Electric GLA?

And if the EQC does success for Mercedes-Benz in India, we could also be looking at the GLA 250e EQ Power, a petrol-electric plug-in hybrid. The engine would be 218hp producing 1.3-litre engine, with a 15.6kWh lithium-ion battery as seen in the A250e EQ Power. This would give it an official electric-only range of about 64km.

Talk numbers to me, will ya?

For those of us interested, lets see what makes the GLA new.

Exterior & Dimension:

• Ground Clearance raised by 9mm, to 143mm
• It is 1611mm high, 104mm higher than before
• It is 4410mm long, 14mm shorter than before
• It is 2020mm wide, 2mm narrower than before
• Wheelbase has been extended by 30mm to 2729mm, track has been increased by 46mm, front and rear.

On the Inside:

• New free-standing digital display panel, comprised of two 7 inch screens, for the instruments and infotainment functions, operated via Mercedes’ MBUX OS, supporting both touchpad and voice controls, as standard. An upgrade to 10.3 inch wider screens would be available as option.
• A color HUD will also be available.
• Headroom on the front has increased by 22mm and decreased at the rear by 6mm. However, the customer can ask for a rear seat with 140mm of forehead-and-aft adjustment, giving up to 116mm more leg room, if needed.
• The rear seat backrest is set at a steeper angle, creating more boot space – an increase of 14 liters, bringing the total to 435 liters.

Optional Package:

• The four-wheel drive models can be ordered with an off-road package, it doesn’t increase the ride height, just adds an off-road headlight function and an additional off-road driving mode ‘Downhill Speed Regulation’.

What do I write on the cheque?

Well, there is no official pricing available at the moment for the New GLA. We know the first gen GLA launched five years ago (that’s right!) at a starting price of roughly ₹ 32.75 lakhs in late 2014, went down to ₹ 31.31 lakhs in mid 2015 when Mercedes started local manufacturing, and then went down again to ₹ 30.65 lakhs when the new facelift was launched in 2017. Currently on Mercedes-Benz India website, the GLA starts at ₹ 32.33 lakhs.

An official statement from Santosh Iyer, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz India, has put the New GLA at “a price-point of Rs 40-odd lakhs.” We will have to wait and watch.

What are the competitors?

In our market, the new GLA will fight against the BMW X1 and the Volvo XC40.

---

What do you have to say about the new GLA? Does it look interesting? Or do you think the X1 or XC40 is a better choice? Lets talk in the comments!

Subscribe to The Best CAR Blog Ever for more car content in your inbox or Follow on Instagram @thebestcarblogever for the latest cars in your feed!