Making it a car launch to remember. We got to Drive the New Mercedes-Benz GLA Class Way Off Road

Over 180 metres, way off road, underground in a deep salt mine. The salt rock mine location at Winsford, Cheshire is where most of the road salt in the UK is mined.

Mercedes-Benz had kept the launch location a secret. Getting fully kitted up in mining gear, we were then led to a lift, down, down, down for about a minute into the working mine. Without the required safety equipment in complete darkness we would have been unsafe and lost. This is clearly not a normal place to show off a Mercedes-Benz.

View the Drive gallery of images for the New Mercedes-Benz GLA Class

A pre-set route had been made for us to drive. Three cars had been lowered nose first down the lift shafts into the mine. The route took us over a mile some parts in complete darkness. The cars had been fitted with Intelligent Light Systems (ILS) these lit up the eight metre tunnels in a spectacular fashion. The mine is vast, with over 130 miles of tunnels. Easy to get lost and never found again. In case of accident the mine is used as a location for a thriving new business. Document storage is the name of the game with humidity at a constant 14 degrees, organisations including the National Archive can store documents for safe keeping in a dry environment. Many other types of business opportunities are now being considered for the cavernous empty spaces.

After reaching the surface the launch then continued with a full on road test of the rather smart looking GLA Class SUV.  Not a regular day out and a car launch to be remembered.

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