Mercedes-Benz is about to launch its electric car offensive

By Stephen Edelstein February 16, 2018

Buried in the press releases for the seemingly endless array of models Mercedes-Benz and its various sub-brands plan to unveil at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show was a brief, but important, announcement. Mercedes will unveil the first production electric car from its new EQ sub-brand in Geneva, the first of what will be many new electric cars from the German automaker.

Mercedes did not disclose the identity of the new model, but it’s possible that it will be an SUV based on the Generation EQ concept (pictured above), which first appeared in 2016. With a claimed 310-mile range, the Generation EQ would give Mercedes a rival to the Tesla Model X in addition to the crop of electric SUVs being raised by the German automaker’s traditional rivals.

The Jaguar I-Pace will appear in production-ready form at the Geneva show, and Audi’s e-tron may show up as well. The Jag and Audi will go on sale later this year, but Mercedes may not get its new electric model into showrooms until next year.

After a false start, Mercedes is getting serious about electric cars. It plans to launch at least 10 all-electric models over the next few years under the EQ sub-brand, which will be analogous to rival BMW’s “i” division. Alongside the SUV, Mercedes will likely launch a production version of the smaller EQA concept that first appeared last year. Every Mercedes will have a hybrid or all-electric powertrain option by 2022.

Other luxury automakers, including Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover, Infiniti, and BMW, are also undertaking ambitious electrification plans. But talking about filling their lineups with hybrids and electric cars is one thing, while actually doing it is another. It is a good thing that we are getting some actual production models in the form of the new Mercedes, the Jaguar I-Pace, and the Audi e-tron. The floodgates may be opening.

Geneva 2018 will be a busy show for Mercedes. Besides the new electric car, Mercedes will unveil the new AMG G63 performance SUV, some new features for the Maybach S-Class luxury sedan, an updated version of the C-Class sedan, and the new AMG GT Coupe.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

Cars

Mercedes is finally bringing an electric van to the U.S.

Front three quarter view of the 2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter electric van.

Mercedes-Benz might be known for luxury cars, but it also makes vans, and it's finally bringing an electric van to the United States.

Scheduled to start production this summer, the 2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter is an all-electric version of the Sprinter full-size cargo van that's already a favorite of delivery services like FedEx and Amazon, as well as camper van converters. While the automaker has been selling electric vans in Europe since 2010, the new eSprinter is the first one aimed at the U.S. market.

Cars

2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV preview: The EV lineup grows again

Front three quarter view of the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV.

As Mercedes-Benz has steadily expanded its EQ range of electric cars, the lineup has become a bit like the late stages of a Tetris game. It’s mostly complete, but with a few gaps still left. And the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV is the piece that perfectly fits one of them.
Mercedes recently launched two other electric SUVs at opposite ends of the price spectrum. The EQS SUV is positioned as the lineup’s flagship, while the EQB is the entry-level model. The EQE SUV slots between those two in size and, presumably, price. The latter hasn’t been confirmed yet, and likely won’t be until the EQE SUV’s planned March 2023 on-sale date.

Design
As the name says, the EQE SUV is a utility-vehicle version of the EQE sedan, which will likely beat it to showrooms by a few months. Mercedes did the same thing with the EQS, which is available in both SUV and sedan body styles.
With its tall, upright profile, the EQE SUV definitely looks like a proper SUV compared to the low-slung EQE sedan. Park it next to an EQS SUV, though, and you’ll have to get out a measuring tape to spot the differences.
The EQE SUV is 0.6 inch narrower and 1.2 inches lower than the EQS SUV, but the most significant difference is in length. The EQE SUV is 10.3 inches shorter than the EQS SUV, with a 2.1-inch shorter wheelbase. And while the EQS SUV has three-row seating, the EQE SUV has two rows. Based on our experience with the EQS SUV’s third row, that’s not a big loss.
The interior design theme carries over from other Mercedes EQ models, with an expansive sloping dashboard designed to accommodate many screens, and multicolor ambient lighting that should look pretty dramatic at night. However, leatherette upholstery is standard, rather than real leather, which Mercedes is now spinning as a vegan option.

Cars

We tested the self-driving Mercedes tech so advanced, it’s not allowed in the U.S.

Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan with Drive Pilot.

You can’t buy a fully self-driving car today -- and may never be able to -- but automakers are looking at ways to shift more of the workload from human drivers to machinery. Mercedes-Benz may have taken the biggest step in that direction yet.

Mercedes claims its Drive Pilot system, which was recently launched in Germany, is the first production system to achieve Level 3 on the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) autonomy scale, meaning the car can fully drive itself with the system active, but a human driver may still need to take over from time to time. It’s still a long way off from autonomous driving, but the Level 3 designation signifies a greater degree of capability than competitor systems.