Mercedes has revealed the fourth and final member of its new small compact family, the £25,000 Audi Q3- and BMW X1-rivalling GLA.
Revealed in concept form at the Shanghai Motor Show earlier this year, the new GLA has been toned down slightly for production; however, you'd have to admit that the end result is striking.
The GLA will go on sale in the UK in December, with the first deliveries happening early next year.
Based on Mercedes' Modular Front-drive Architecture (MFA), the GLA gets multi-link fully independent rear suspension, electromechanical power steering and Mercedes' optional 4Matic all-wheel drive system, which varies the torque distributed to the front and rear axles.
Engine-wise, there's a choice of four units in four different model guises, all of which come with stop-start as standard. The GLA 200 and 200 CDI are available with front-wheel drive and get a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine and a 2.1-litre turbodiesel engine, respectively.
Both the GLA 250 and the GLA 220 CDI are available with all-wheel drive and get a 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine and a 2.1-litre diesel engine, respectively. The petrol model is the most powerful in the range, boasting 211bhp; however, we'd expect an even more powerful AMG model to be released in due course.
Front-wheel drive models come as standard with a six-speed manual gearbox but can also be specified with the seven-speed double-clutch transmission which comes as standard on the all-wheel drive models in the range.
Fuel economy figures are tipped to be impressive too. The most frugal model in the range, the GLA 200 CDI, is expected to return a combined 65.7mpg while emitting just 114g/km of CO2.
Boot space is impressive, with 421-litres of space on offer with the rear seats up and 836-litres available with the seats folded flat. The rear seats also recline.
There's a whole host of safety features on offer too, with Collision Prevention Assist, Brake Assist and Attention Assist drowsiness detection all fitted as standard. In addition to this, buyers can also specify an optional Lane Tracking package, which includes Blind Spot and Lane Keeping Assist, and Active Parking Assist, which automatically parks the car in both parallel and end-on spaces.
Standard equipment also includes 18-inch alloy wheels, comfort suspension, DAB digital radio and full iPhone integration. Full specification details will be released later this year.
Mercedes has yet to reveal any pricing information for the new GLA; however, a starting price of around £25,000 seems to be on the cards, placing the GLA at a similar price point to its key rivals, the BMW X1 and the Audi Q3.
The Mercedes GLA will make its world debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month.
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