3rd-gen Mercedes-Benz CLA gets a Geely four-banger

The third generation of the Mercedes-Benz CLA will come equipped with a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine of Chinese origin.

The mill is co-designed between Geely and Horse Powertrain Limited, a new company established by Geely and Renault in May this year. Geely, or rather its private owner Li Shufu, owns a 10% share in Mercedes-Benz, so the decision to put a Chinese-made engine inside a German-designed car is not surprising.

Mercedes plans to manufacture these engines in China and only retrofit them with catalysts in Europe to comply with the environmental standards. A 48V mild-hybrid add-on is also included by design.

In its currently patented form, the engine outputs 250 PS (247 hp / 184 kW) and 360 Nm (266 lb-ft) of torque. Other variants may become available later.

In related news, Chinese startup firm Momenta is reportedly working on state-of-the-art active safety systems to put into the latest CLA. There are multiple reports on this, but none of them are official at this point.