2026 Mercedes-Benz GLA Packs Hybrid & EV Setups

Mercedes-Benz is currently doing a lot of things: they’re fighting to bring back buttons and knobs while showing models with pillar-to-pillar screens for dashboards, looking to make EV sports cars ’emotional,’ bringing to life a new entry-level model, and also making leadership changes.
 

All the while, they’re focusing on that, but neither Mercedes nor AMG are standing still. So, earlier this month they introduced the world to an all-new GLC with EQ Technology, the all-electric version of the regular GLC. It’s a significant model because it packs more power than the rivaling BMW iX3 and it’s also the first exponent of a new design philosophy and cabin style.
 
As it turns out, more of the same will come very soon. During the reveal event, Mercedes itself teased the electric C-Class with the same jumbo grille. Plus, our spy photographer partners caught the all-new third-generation Mercedes-Benz GLA entry-level crossover SUV in disguise while undergoing testing. Since we already got a glimpse of it way before we’re supposed to see it officially, why should we stop there?
 

No worries, the good folks over at Kolesa, together with their resident pixel master Nikita Chuicko, aka ‘kelsonik’ on social media, have imagined the upcoming Mercedes-Benz GLA sans the dizzying camouflage. The third iteration of the entry-level crossover SUV benefits from the efforts of members of the imaginative guild of digital car content creators who stopped dwelling across the parallel universes of vehicular CGI.
 
More precisely, the current Mercedes-Benz GLA, which was introduced in late 2019 and shares the platform alongside the Mercedes EQA, A-Class, CLA, B-Class, and GLB, has been around in facelifted from since 2023 and will probably share its underpinnings with the new, third-generation CLA with EQ Technology, the first new model based on the fresh Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture (MMA) platform.
 
As such, everyone is expecting the two models to share the powertrains – both the electric ones and the ICE versions. Right now, the new Mercedes CLA is only offered with the EV setups, and we’re still waiting on the ICE offerings, which are supposed to be of the hybrid-only variety. Meanwhile, as far as the design is concerned, the virtual artist has peeled away the camouflage and found a mix of CLA and GLA underneath, coupled with new styling elements.
 
More precisely, the CGI expert portrays the unofficial, hypothetical Mercedes-Benz GLA design project with a profile that’s very close to the outgoing model but with headlights inspired by the latest CLA sedan while the big grille is styled after the GLC with EQ Technology. Around the back, on the other hand, the three-pointed LED star motif is featured in a different taillight housing with a circular element that also unfolds and spreads across the width of the vehicle.