Mercedes-Benz begins GLA assembly at Rastatt, with the electric version built first
Series output of the new GLA has started in Germany, and battery-powered cars will reach showrooms before hybrid or combustion versions do.
- November
- low three-digit million
- 2027
What Happened
Mercedes-Benz has started building its latest GLA at the Rastatt factory, and the battery-powered version is first in line. European dealers will get the model in November, the month the brand has picked for both the showroom debut and the first customer handovers. Hybrid and combustion-engine variants arrive later in the year; those hybrids pair 48-volt technology with a new internal combustion engine. Rastatt already builds other models from Mercedes-Benz's newest vehicle generation, and the plant is described as a centre of excellence for compact cars.
Under the new naming scheme, one badge covers every drivetrain. Until now the GLA name belonged to combustion and hybrid cars, while the battery-powered version was sold as the EQA. Ordering for the EQA closed in April, and the last of those orders were handled at Rastatt during June. The switch means the electric model no longer carries its own designation.
The EQA drops off the order books.
The final EQA orders are processed at the Rastatt plant.
Series production of the all-electric GLA begins at Rastatt.
Dealer premiere and first customer deliveries are the targets.
GLA output shifts into Assembly Hall 4.1.
Assembly Hall 4.0 handles the GLA today. Mercedes-Benz is putting a low-three-digit-million sum into refitting the hall next door, 4.1, which will take over the model from 2027. The company is using digital twins, high-precision computer models of the line, to plan and tune the new setup, which it says saves construction time and money. A similar approach during the earlier conversion of Hall 4.0 helped deliver what the company calls a record-breaking completion time.
low three-digit million
Mercedes-Benz is refitting the hall beside the current GLA line; it takes over the model in 2027.
- Untertürkheim provides the electric drive units along with the vehicle axles, split between the Mettingen and Hedelfingen facilities.
- Each propulsion unit combines traction motors, managing electronics, and reduction gearing into an integrated module.
- Mettingen assembles the GLA's electric axles and ships them to Rastatt as finished systems.
- High-voltage batteries are supplied by Accumotive in Kamenz, Saxony.
- Kuppenheim, about 10 kilometres away, has shipped body-in-white parts to the Rastatt site since 2009.
Battery packs for the GLA are built in-house, which the company describes as central to its strategy. Its subsidiary Accumotive, based in Kamenz in Saxony, has extensive background manufacturing complex battery packs and acts as the automaker's lead facility within a network spanning three continents. Kuppenheim, roughly 10 kilometres from Rastatt, has fed body-in-white components to the plant since 2009 and now does the same for the GLA. Since early 2026 the two sites have been tied together organisationally, with Kuppenheim folded into the Rastatt plant.
Why this matters
The new GLA puts the electric version into production ahead of the hybrid and combustion variants, so the earliest cars reaching customers are battery-powered. The naming change means buyers no longer see a separate EQA badge for the electric car. The launch also matters to four German sites — Rastatt, Untertürkheim, Kuppenheim and Kamenz — that feed the model.
Terms in This Story
- digital twin
- A computer replica of a real production line or product that engineers use to test changes virtually before making them on site.
- body-in-white
- A car's bare metal structure, the welded shell before paint, trim and mechanical parts are added.
- 48-volt technology
- A mild-hybrid setup that adds a small 48-volt electrical system to a combustion engine so it can assist the engine and cut fuel use.
- high-voltage battery
- The large traction battery that powers an electric vehicle's motor, typically running at several hundred volts.
A brief summary; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.