奔驰明年将发布总计达八款前驱紧凑车型，其中就包括GLA车型，最近该车在开放路面进行测试时被人拍到，该车很可能会在2019年上市。这款车看起来与普通的五门掀背车没有区别，只是离地间隙进一步增加，轮拱进一步外延。奔驰下一代GLA的这款早期原型车也有可能采用掀背车相同的车身面板，除非这两款车的车身面板完全一样，当然这似乎是不可能的。与现行的A级和GLA级车型一样，这两款车之间的差别很小，GLA将保留A级车绝大部分外观，但增加了包括塑料车身防擦条等CUV元素。GLA车辆内装也与A级车差不多，最近拍到的谍照显示，车厢内采用了类似奔驰更大，价格更高车型的双数字显示屏布局。由于新车尺寸增加，因此内部空间更宽敞，从先前拍到的谍照看，新车轮距略微增加。新车采用奔驰的MFA平台，GLA将与采用相同平台的A级和B级车一起销售，未来还将增加A级轿车。

New Mercedes GLA Poses For The Spy Photographer

2018 will be the year when Mercedes is going to introduce its new family of front-wheel-drive compact cars set to include a total of eight models. One of them is going to the GLA seen here out in the open testing as a camouflaged prototype ahead of what will most likely be a 2019 launch. It appears to look virtually the same as the regular five-door hatchback, with the exception of the increased ground clearance and the wheel arch extensions.

Chances are Mercedes had an early prototype of the next-gen GLA that used the same body panels as the hatch, unless the two will actually be borderline identical – though that seems unlikely. Much like with the current A-Class and the GLA, the differences between the two will be on a rather subtle level as the crossover will inherit most of the supermini's looks, but with the usual CUV traits like the extra plastic body cladding.

It’s going to be a similar story on the inside as the cars will have largely the same cabin, which recent spy shots have shown is going feature a dual digital screen layout akin to Mercedes’ bigger and more expensive models. A minor bump in size is expected in both cases and that will contribute to a roomier interior. Our spies told us a while back that one of the GLA prototypes they caught on camera appeared to have slightly wider tracks.

Using the second iteration of the company’s Modular Front-Wheel-Drive Architecture (MFA), the GLA will be sold alongside the usual members of the two A- and B-Class families. The lineup is bound to be expanded with the addition of an already confirmed A-Class Sedan slotting below the CLA.