Mercedes-Benz EV product assault accelerates

Mercedes-Benz says it will overtake American EV specialist Tesla and European luxury car rivals Audi and BMW via an accelerated, EQ-branded electric vehicle assault that will comprise six all-new EVs within the next two years.

The German car-maker this week announced it will begin production of four new EVs in 2021, followed by another two in 2022, as part of a strategy to become the premium EV market leader by offering 10 EVs by 2025.

The EV onslaught will start with the flagship S-Class based EQS electric limousine in the first half of the year. Fresh teaser images of sleek EQS were released this week, showing clear similarities to the Vision EQS concept revealed in 2019.

The Mercedes-Benz EQS will be closely followed next year by a pair of compact SUVs, the EQA and EQB. Effectively battery-powered derivatives of the second-generation GLA-Class and new GLB-Class, these are the models expected to generate the biggest EV sales for Mercedes-Benz.

The Mercedes-Benz EQE electric ‘business sedan’, based on the E-Class, will also be launched in 2021, followed by similarly sized electric crossovers in 2022 – the EQE SUV and EQS SUV, which will be essentially battery electric versions of the GLE and GLS luxury SUVs.

The Mercedes-Benz EV assault on the luxury car market will utilise Daimler factories across the globe, including in Germany, China, USA and Hungary.

The EQS will be built alongside the S-Class in Sindelfingen, Germany, while the EQA – which is due to make its world debut on January 20 – will be made in Rastatt, Germany and Beijing, China.

The EQB will be produced in both China and Hungary, while the EQE sedan will be made in Bremen, Germany, alongside the C-Class, GLC and EQC.

The EQE and EQS SUVs, meantime, will be based on the same dedicated large EV platform, dubbed EVA 2.0, alongside a range of other Benz SUVs in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the US. The MMA EV platform will underpin smaller EVs like the EQA and EQB.

Mercedes-Benz has also pledged to deliver 25 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) by 2025 and hopes electrified vehicles (EVs and PHEVs) will account for of all its global sales by 2030.

Given the increase in demand for battery cells, Mercedes-Benz plans to expand its battery manufacturing capacity from two plants in Kamenz, Germany, to a total of four in its homeland, along with battery factories in Poland, USA, China and Thailand.

Mercedes-Benz is giving itself 20 years to become a completely CO2-neutral vehicle manufacturer, as part of its ‘Ambition 2039’ strategy. It says its factories will be carbon-neutral by 2022.

“We intend to lead in the field of e-mobility and focus in particular on battery technology,” said Mercedes-Benz chief operating officer and head of R&D, Markus Schäfer.

“With its ‘Electric First’ strategy, Mercedes-Benz is consistently on the path to CO2 neutrality and is investing heavily in transformation. Our vehicle portfolio becomes electric and thus also our global production network with vehicle and battery factories.”

Australian arrival times for the new EQ models are not yet set in stone. Given the slow uptake of EVs in this country, it’s unlikely Australia will be a priority market – unlike Europe, China and USA.

Mercedes-Benz currently sells only the EQC EV in Australia – a mid-size electric SUV priced around $140,000, making it a direct rival for the Audi e-tron, Jaguar I-PACE and upcoming BMW iX and iX3.