Mercedes-Benz EVs too overweight for top-shelf AMG 63 badge

Mercedes-AMG’s chief technical officer Jochen Hermann has revealed that the battery-electric Mercedes-Benz EQE sedan, EQS limousine and EQS large SUV will all miss out on the Stuttgart hot-shop’s flagship ‘63’ designation.

Speaking to carsales at this week’s Munich motor show, Hermann said that the highest-performing AMG models based on Daimler’s dedicated EVA2 electric vehicle architecture would instead carry the ‘53’ badge – as per the Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 S 4MATIC+, AMG’s first EV – which is a designation traditionally reserved for mid-range AMGs.

AMG’s engineering boss admitted the decision about what badge should grace the performance division’s versions of the Mercedes-Benz EQE and EQS had been the subject of huge debate.

But Hermann said that despite missing out on the famous 63 moniker, the new range of pure-electric high-performance sedans would offer all the things people expect from AMG.

“From the first few metres you have to feel it’s an AMG, from the steering to the braking, the behaviour of the car – this is what an AMG is about,” he said.

But the former aerospace engineer, who is just a year into the job of co-managing Mercedes-AMG with CEO Philpp Scheimer, said the reason there will not be more powerful versions of the EQE and EQS is because AMG’s hallowed 63 badge is reserved for models with racetrack-ready performance.

“The difference between a 53 and 63 most of the time has been how much of the time you can go on a racetrack with an AMG,” said Hermann.

And therein lies the trouble with Daimler’s latest EVA2 platform.

“This car [EQS 53] is a full AMG – it's really different from an EQS 580,” said Hermann.

“Owners can expect all they know and love from driving an AMG, but it's not a car for the racetrack. Not because of its performance but because of its weight and battery size.”

When asked if owners might be disappointed with the 3.4-second 0-100km/h time offered by the Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 given the circa-2.0sec figure claimed by the Tesla Model S Plaid, Hermann said that in the future performance claims for EVs will become less and less relevant to enthusiasts.

“It might sound odd for an AMG CTO [chief technical officer] to say 0-100km/h is not important – of course it is. [But] I'm not sure we'll always have a competitive car anymore and that 0.1 second might not mean anything in the future.

“I believe with electric cars the easiest thing you can do is accelerate, but then it’s still not a performance car in my mind. There are different things needed for it to be a performance car.”

Hermann said that from now on AMG will focus on delivering vehicles with electric powertrains that supply constant performance and can carry high corner speeds.

He admitted that while the EQS 53 might deliver enough performance to justify the 63 badge for some, the flagship nameplate would not be diluted for marketing purposes but instead reserved for standalone future models like the pure-electric replacement for the current AMG GT.

All 63 models will be based on AMG’s upcoming dedicated-electric EA architecture, which is being created for high-performance EVs to appear from the German car-maker from 2025.

Hermann said the lighter EA platform and state-of-the-art in-hub motors from the EQG will provide the on-track performance to justify reserving its 63 nameplate for dedicated AMG models.

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