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.

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.

Typically, when I get to do a ridealong in a new car, prototype or otherwise, the car is actually, you know, in motion. Today though, sitting in the passenger seat of a camouflaged prototype of the upcoming third-generation Mercedes-Benz CLA,

The custom three-door G-Wagen represents the first time the Popemobile has been powered by batteries alone.

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

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.

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