Six-month lead times on Mercedes CLA and GLC as EV orders run into 2027

Six months. That's the lead time Mercedes-Benz is quoting today for custom-configured orders of its 800-volt electric CLA and GLC — a customer ordering now waits until roughly April 2027 for delivery. Sales board member Mathias Geisen confirmed the figure at the company's 140th-anniversary celebrations, where the all-electric AMG GT SUV was unveiled, according to Mercedes fan blog JESMB.

The backlog isn't a niche problem. It stretches across the whole new electric lineup, and it's pulling plants, battery assembly and product planning along with it.

How big is the demand, in numbers?

Mercedes hasn't published model-level sales figures. But Handelsblatt obtained an exclusive evaluation by market researcher Dataforce, and the numbers are unambiguous. The all-electric CLA, launched in September 2025, has passed 71,000 registrations in Europe — averaging about 5,400 units a month. Its combustion-only predecessor managed 3,500 a month in Europe between 2021 and 2024. The new car is out-selling the old one by more than 50 per cent on a monthly basis.

The GLC story is sharper still. Dataforce counts nearly 7,400 new GLC registrations across Europe in September alone. The previous combustion-engine GLC — the group's best-selling model in that era — peaked at 6,500 units a month in its best year, 2025. In Germany, Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA, the federal motor transport authority) figures show both CLA and GLC entered the top 10 of most-registered new electric cars in September, each clearing 2,000 units.

What does this change for the plants?

Production, not demand, is the constraint. The GLC's ramp-up in Bremen stumbled on a shortage of critical components, media reports say, keeping deliveries of the mid-size SUV low early on. Deliveries and output have since reached what Geisen's team considers a good level; the CLA is built in Rastatt.

Upstream, the pressure shows up in Saxony. Accumotive, Mercedes' battery assembly subsidiary, has run its Kamenz plant six days a week in three shifts — round the clock — since June to feed the order books.

The group-level quarterly numbers frame the shift. Mercedes-Benz Group sold 78,100 battery-electric vehicles between July and September, up 24 per cent on Q2 and 52 per cent year-on-year. The EV share of passenger car deliveries climbed from 9.6 per cent in Q2 2025 to 16.8 per cent. One in six new Mercedes passenger cars delivered in the past three months was electric.

What did Mercedes say?

Geisen put the quarter in direct terms: "Mercedes-Benz Cars has achieved the highest quarterly sales of all-electric vehicles in the company's history, led by the electric GLC, whose sales have more than tripled compared to the second quarter."

He added context on geography and the sold-out lineup: "Outside China, passenger car sales in 2026 have increased for the third consecutive quarter compared to the previous year. Our new electric models – GLC, CLA, GLB, and GLA – are sold out in Europe for the rest of the year, with order books extending into 2027. This shows that our model offensive is in full swing."

What's next in the pipeline?

The current four-model wave may not be the ceiling. The all-electric C-Class, GLA and GLB versions are now reaching roads in Germany and Europe, which likely adds further demand pressure. Handelsblatt, citing insider information, reports two more launches in the queue:

• All-electric E-Class — unveiling at the IAA in Munich, September 2027
• All-electric A-Class — following in 2028

Neither has a confirmed production site or volume target in public yet; both are program intentions, not announced capacity plans.

Watch next: whether Kamenz's six-day, three-shift schedule holds as GLB and GLA volumes stack on top of CLA and GLC, and whether Bremen's component shortages stay solved as the E-Class program approaches its 2027 IAA debut.