It may be the cheapest car in the automaker’s U.S. lineup at present, but the new 2026 CLA it won’t look or feel that way from what we found.

A closed track is most likely, or perhaps a stretch of road that vehicle engineers have covered dozens or even hundreds of times already, which ensures the camouflage-wrapped prototype reacts exactly as expected.

It sounds like an idea straight out of a five-year-old’s imagination: A car covered in solar panels runs entirely on energy from the sun. As far-fetched as it seems, this isn’t pure fantasy. Mercedes-Benz says it’s developing a solar paint that would allow electric vehicle owners in places like Los Angeles to power their daily driving without ever plugging in.

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It’s the first electric popemobile from the luxury German automaker, which has been manufacturing vehicles for the Vatican for the last 90 years. For half that time, the popemobile has been based on Mercedes’ G-Class wagon. And now, for the first time, it wil be operating without any pollution, powered by the company’s EV technology.

A new Mercedes electric car is coming to market in 2026. Newsweek is one of the first to get to experience it.