FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Mercedes to electrify every model by 2022

Mercedes-Benz has committed to releasing 50 electrified models – including a hybrid or fully electric version of every model in its range, and all vehicles from its smart brand – by 2022.

Announced on the eve of the Frankfurt Motor Show by Daimler chairman Dr Dieter Zetsche, the target is an expansion of the 20 electrified models previously promised by the company.

“By 2022 we will electrify our entire Mercedes portfolio, offering our customers at least one electrified drivetrain variant per model series,” said Zetsche. “All in all, we are planning to have more than 50 electrified vehicle offerings.”

The move is part of Daimler’s plan for 25 per cent of the vehicles it sells to be battery-electric vehicles by 2025, both globally and in Australia, where the first all-electric Mercedes-Benz – an SUV based on the Generation EQ concept – will be released in 2019 and priced under $85,000.

However, it will be well beyond 2025 before Mercedes-Benz offers an electrified version of every model in Australia, where the smart brand was axed in 2015 due to lack of demand.

“It will take longer in Australia,” said Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman David McCarthy. “We’ll run a little bit behind that. When we can get them we’ll take them.”

Mercedes-Benz Australia CEO Horst von Sanden said the return of the smart brand – and other battery-powered models from Mercedes-Benz – depends on their profitability.

“We continue to look at it [smart]. We discontinued it because we didn't have a business case. We'd love to have it even more so if it's all-electric, but it still needs a business case.”

Von Sanden described government incentives and increased public acceptance of EVs as a ‘chicken and egg thing’, but added “the seed is clearly planted” in reference to the increasing number of electric models available and lobby groups like the Australian Electric Vehicle Council.

“Electric cars are challenging in Australia but it’s not pie in the sky stuff. The EQ SUV will come in 2019. It should be priced in the $75,000 to $85,000 range and there will be more to come.”

Mercedes-Benz Australia, which will soon join Tesla in offering domestic battery power storage systems, already sells plug-in hybrid versions of its C-Class, E-Class and S-Class sedans, as well as its GLE large SUV. Its next pure-electric model after the EQ-based SUV is expected to be a compact model previewed by the EQ A concept.

Daimler’s all-EV plan for smart – which will follow Tesla in becoming a combustion engineless vehicle brand, but initially only in Europe and the US – will be spearheaded by a production version of the autonomous ‘vision EQ fortwo’ car-sharing concept revealed at Frankfurt.

“Electric drive is the perfect urban car. That’s why by the end of this decade we’ll switch the smart brand in Europe and the US completely to electric drive,” said Zetsche.

“The rest of the world will follow shortly after. The smart brand will be the first automotive brand to switch from a combustion portfolio to a pure electric drive.”

Daimler’s EV model commitment, which follows similar announcements by Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo, and a plea not to ban diesel engines as some countries have proposed, is a clear reaction to Volkswagen’s ‘dieselgate’ fiasco.

“There has been a loss of trust – trust in the German car industry’s power of innovation and sustainability. And I regret to say that very much,” said Zetsche.

“So let me stress at this point in time that at Daimler we have been doing everything in our power to actively shape the future of mobility for years.

“The fact is, it’s more worthwhile to improve modern diesel engines than to ban them. We need diesel if we are to achieve our climate targets through less CO2 in road traffic.

“That’s why Daimler has invested three billion euros in the further development of our diesel engines. Nitrous oxides have been reduced [up to] 90 per cent due to technology advances. Banning diesels would be a disservice to our targets.”