Here’s the unofficial debut of the Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 S … on Mercedes’ own configurator. German news outlet Auto Bild was the first to report the leaked image followed by other outlets. As of the time of this writing, the photo of the CLA 45 S is still on the German configuration site, and we suspect it was some sort of glitch or a case of mistaken photo identity. To see it yourself, head to this link, then scroll down to the “AMG Night Package” option displaying a yellow CLA35. Click the “i” for more info, scroll to the second photo, and boom. There it is.

There are plenty of visual cues that differentiate the CLA35 with the CLA 45 S we see here, but the badge on the back denoting it as such all but guarantees this is the 45. Different wheels, larger red brake calipers, bigger rotors and quad exhaust tips are a few other tells that this flavor of CLA is a hotter one.

AMG CLA45 S

We recently had a conversation with AMG’s Tobias Moers about the amount of horsepower coming to Mercedes’ next generation of “45” cars, and he told us to expect approximately 420 horsepower.That’s an absurd amount of power to squeeze out of a small boosted engine, but leave it to AMG to go for it. The CLA45 will also be bolted up to an 8-speed dual-clutch auto, rather than the seven-speed used for the 35 series cars. A different all-wheel drive system from the 35 is also expected for the CLA45 with a drift mode in tow. The badge on the back also indicates that this is an “S” variant, and there will probably be a slightly less powerful model. A previous report suggested that lower-powered model would be around 387 horsepower.

The front end with the assumed AMG Panamericana grille is obscured from view, but that will just further differentiate it from the 35. Now that it has been leaked, we think a reveal for the hot little sedan could be imminent.

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