Mercedes readying four Tesla beaters

Mercedes-Benz has secretly signed-off four all-new rivals to battle it out with Tesla for pure-electric supremacy, according to a new report.

So serious is the threat the US car-maker poses, says the UK Car magazine, that the German car-maker will now have its first production Tesla rival on sale in 2018 - a year earlier than originally planned.

Car also revealed that the top secret $3 billion electric car program will also birth two more SUVs and, even, a luxurious limo. All will fight it out with forthcoming Tesla models and newer EV opposition from the likes of Audi and Porsche.

Based on an all-new Electric Vehicle Architecture (EVA) that all four models will share, first to be arrive will be a Tesla Model S sedan rival that’s said to be positioned size-wise between the current C-Class and the E-Class.

Next will be a medium-sized SUV that will sit between the GLC and GLE, that’s said to follow to take on the recently launched Model X.

The final phase, says the Brit mag, will be a large S-Class model and a huge SUV that will be bigger than the already massive GLS.

All EVA-underpinned vehicles will be rear- or four-wheel drive and copy the Tesla’s flat battery pack that spans the entire floorpan.

Two power plants will be offered, according to the new report, a 300kW version for the two-wheel drive versions and a more powerful 390kW or 450kW for the all-wheel drive versions.

With a battery pack that’s said to weigh a considerable 400kg, Mercedes-Benz is believed to offer all its models with Tesla-levels of performance. For the sedan, this means the fastest models in 2018 should sprint to 100km/h, from standstill, in less than 3.0 seconds and top out at 250km/h.

A range of at least 500km is also believed to be an internal target for the new cars.

Priced from around $140,000 when it goes on sale in two years’ time, Car magazine claims Mercedes plans to sell at least 20,000 units of each vehicle - hinting at the huge cost of each car’s development.

Design-wise expect last year’s Frankfurt motor show star, the Concept IAA, to provide stylistic inspiration, although without its active aero that’s already been ruled out for production.

As well as the EVA-underpinned vehicles, according to Car, Mercedes is also developing side-by-side a project codenamed ‘NEV’ (New Electric Vehicle) which is a pure-electric vehicle made specifically for the Chinese market. That car should be on sale by 2020.