mercedes-benz unveils CLA electric car with storage in front hood

CLA electric car by mercedes-benz debuts in rome

Mercedes-Benz debuts the CLA electric car with a radiant ‘face’ made of animated LED stars and storage under the front trunk. Introduced at IAA Mobility 2023 in Munich, Germany, the car manufacturer brings the real-life model of the electric vehicle to Rome, Italy, for its official unveiling on March 13th, 2025. Here, designboom interviews Mercedes-Benz’s chief design officer, Gorden Wagener, who discusses the car’s design, including the face of the CLA vehicle. He compares it to an LED wall because the front of the car comes with a star panel in high-gloss black.

Then here, 142 individually animated LED stars glow alongside the car manufacturer’s three-pointed star emblem in the middle. This is the first fully illuminated grille panel on a Mercedes-Benz production car, which bears an A-shape design marking the vehicle as electric. ‘You can pretty much do anything you like with these animated stars because you can customize the light patterns. This grille makes the car different because other cars seem faceless; they don’t have an identity. But we have the Mercedes-Benz grille here alongside the star, and that’s a significant iconographic,’ Gorden Wagener shares with designboom during the unveiling in Rome, Italy.

all images courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

Bringing back the ‘frunk’ design from the 1930s

Mercedes-Benz says that the electric car CLA marks its entrance to an era of new design and digital age. In fact, it brings back the ‘frunk’, which is the storage under the front hood where engines are typically placed. ‘The CLA is actually an electric car, so we use the space at the front for extra storage. As simple as that,’ the Chief Design Officer shares with designboom. It offers 101 liters of additional load space, which is ideal for a luggage trolley, a crate of 0.33-liter bottles, or the charging cable. It is bigger and more useful than in the Mercedes-Benz 130 (W 23) from the 1930s, which was the car manufacturer’s first vehicle with a frunk.

Inside the electric car, the CLA features the infotainment system, the Mercedes-Benz User Experience. Among its number of highlights is the Surround Navigation. The car manufacturer uses 3D game-engine graphics typically used in video games to provide the driver with a 3D representation of the roads and surroundings. This driver-assistance view shows other road users and vehicles in the same field, as if the driver were playing a first-person video game. With this in mind, the design gives the driver improved situational awareness of what’s happening around them. The realistic display also helps them navigate urban traffic better and more visibly.

the car manufacturer brings the real-life model of the electric vehicle to Rome, Italy, for its official unveiling

AI agents that detect the driver’s emotions

The CLA electric car also uses generative AI and the different language models. These include ChatGPT 4.0, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft Bing. These assist the driver while they’re driving, be it for directions or landmarks to visit. Aside from these, the Chief Design Officer explains to designboom that these AI tools have agents that allow the Mercedes-Benz system to have a human-like conversation with the driver. They memorize the driver’s speech patterns and can have smart discussions with them. They also detect their emotions and reply according to their moods. Then, there’s also a Superscreen, which takes over the entire dashboard.

For the Superscreen, it extends across the dashboard, with both ends having rounded air vents that seem to float. There aren’t any manual screens in the electric car CLA, as Mercedes-Benz puts the long digital display. The central display shows the most important information, including the most recently used apps. Then, techie drivers can now group or move apps and files into individually named folders. It is then similar to a smartphone or computer. The vehicle is game-inspired and tech-heavy. Gorden Wagener confirms it during our interview, citing that it’s because ‘the CLA is the youngest car of our series generation,’ entailing the similar tech trends with the current youth.

Mercedes-Benz brings back the ‘frunk’, or the storage under the front hood

Design-wise, the Mercedes-Benz CLA electric car features a shark-nose design for the illuminating panel at the front. There are optional multibeam LED headlights, which form the daytime running lights into the shape of the Mercedes-Benz star. As a standard, the headlights come with a chrome-plated design element. The doors are frameless with chrome trim to emphasize the sporty body of the vehicle. Then, there’s a large panoramic roof forged from a one-piece fixed glass roof. It has no central brace and extends from the windscreen frame to the rear.

The design team adds heat-insulating laminated safety glass for sunlight protection. For the exterior surface, they coat it with a 250-nanometer thin infrared film that reflects long-wave radiation. Many of the design features around the CLA electric car are ‘floating.’ The first is the MBUX Superscreen, which extends across the entire interior width. The large center panels of the doors also appear to float. They make the concave underlying structure recede into the background. The third floating highlight emerges inside in the form of the center console.

142 individually animated LED stars glow alongside the car manufacturer’s three-pointed star at the front

The seemingly floating center console has two levels. The upper section comes with a 3D trim surface and a double cup holder, as well as an optional wireless smartphone charging cradle. While some of the design features are digital, Mercedes-Benz keeps a few tactile elements for the CLA electric car. Take the steering wheel as an example. Here, there are switch panels on the left and right, as well as a navigation pad to control the content on the Superscreen, within the reach of the driver’s finger. The car manufacturer separates the mute function from the volume slider, unlike the previous models. Then, the volume has two buttons to increase and decrease it.

For the first time, Mercedes-Benz makes the CLA electric car’s steering wheels available in ivory beige. For the interiors, the design team draws from the principles of Zen garden. When asked during our interview, Gordon Wagener says that the car manufacturer is playing with several sustainable materials, including leather made of mushroom and fishnet fabric. He gives the example of the center console. It’s available in different models. One of them is made of hemp and recycled paper, engraved with lines that mimic a Zen garden. When touched, it is tactile and gritty, resembling the feel of paper. In fact, even its light gray color reflects the tree-based material.

this is the first fully illuminated grille panel on a Mercedes-Benz production car

‘We have ideas for our more conscious audience in this regard,’ the Chief Design Officer shares with us. ‘Of course, we still use some traditional materials, like glass and aluminum. We’ve drawn from the idea of Zen garden for the CLA electric car because we wanted to showcase simplicity. I think that the reduction and simplicity of Zen gardens are in line with our understanding because, by doing so, you see their beauty.’ In the recent Mercedes-Benz lineup, this conscious approach to materials shows up in the seats. Presently, the design team creates black man-made leather with backing fabric made from recycled PET bottles for one of the upholstery options available.

The bottles used are regranulated, spun into yarn, and finally processed into textiles. The leather is chrome-free and tanned with mineral, synthetic, or vegetable tanning agents, such as coffee bean husks, chestnuts, or extracts from other renewable raw materials. When asked if Mercedes-Benz ever plans to rebrand their star icon, perhaps during the collaboration with Gustaf Westman, which is set to be unveiled in May 2025, Gordon Wagener says no. ‘The star is so strong and powerful. The only thing we’d be open to doing is in terms of how to use it. On the CLA electric car, the animated face has the more abstract and less detailed form of the Mercedes-Benz star. Other than that, it remains the same as part of our identity,’ he says.

front view of the electric car