Oh, pleased days: Mercedes-Benz appears to be eliminating its foolish and convoluted electrical car naming scheme in favor of unifying each gas-powered and EV variants of its vehicles beneath one nameplate. Which means the EQS title goes away, and it’ll get replaced with the “S-Class” nomenclature.
This information, damaged in Autocar, additionally reveals that MB will hold an inner combustion-powered S-Class for its eighth technology, due in 2030. That transfer will come regardless of its pledge to wholly substitute it with a second-generation EQS on the finish of the last decade. CEO Ola Källenius confirmed the 2 items of stories within the publication, saying, “There will probably be two S-Courses sooner or later – ICE and electrical.” I’ve received much more excellent news – the 2 vehicles will share inside and exterior designs, so that ought to come as a welcome shock to of us (me) who don’t like the present look of the EQS.
Regardless of these similarities, the 2 vehicles is not going to share an structure, in response to Autocar. The S-Class EV will use the upcoming MB.EA Massive platform and te ICE automobile will construct off of right this moment’s MRA structure. It’s an analogous plan to what Mercedes-Benz has performed with the brand new G-Class. It comes with each gas-powered and EV-powered drivetrain choices, however they each have extraordinarily comparable styling.
Right here’s a little bit extra on how Mercedes-Benz got here to this determination, and the way lackluster EQS demand damage the possibilities of the mannequin title persevering with, in response to AutoCar:
The unification of the 2 fashions follows disappointing gross sales of each the S-Class and EQS, with deliveries of the ICE automobile plummeting by 37% within the first quarter of 2024. This has resulted in S-Class manufacturing being minimize to only a single shift on the Manufacturing facility 56 facility in Sindelfingen, Germany, which additionally produces the EQS.
Mercedes initially projected that electrical fashions would account for greater than 20% of its 2,043,800 international gross sales in 2023. Nonetheless, they achieved solely an 11% share, regardless of a 73% improve within the agency’s EV gross sales in contrast with 2022.
This shortfall undermines Källenius’s earlier purpose of pure-electric and plug-in hybrid fashions making up 50% of the model’s annual gross sales by the tip of 2025. In a technique replace made earlier this 12 months, Mercedes revised this forecast to 50% by 2030.
In Europe, this gross sales lag has resulted within the EV automobile parc rising by simply 2% up to now in 2024 in contrast with final 12 months, prompting producers reminiscent of Audi, Ford and Porsche to alter tack and refocus on ICE and hybrid vehicles.
The outlet asserts that if the S-Class goes to proceed to have ICE choices, the E-Class’s subsequent technology most likely will too – going together with its electric-powered model that’ll function a successor to the EQE sedan. A supply instructed Autocar that the 2 automobiles are “intently associated from a technical standpoint” and to construct one with out the opposite would “vastly have an effect on the economies of scale” Mercedes employs.
Anyway, earlier than the following technology of S-Class arrives, Mercedes is planning on bringing in a variety of revisions and upgrades to the present EQS and S-Class, as Autocar explains:
Beneath the present plans, the electrical EQS will achieve a serious technical improve through the second half of 2025 and the combustion-engined S-Class saloon is ready to be facelifted in 2026.
The EQS has not too long ago acquired gentle styling revisions as a part of a so-called “working change” for the upmarket electrical saloon however the upgraded model will undertake a closely modified model of the EVA2 platform.
The reworked platform will obtain an 800V electrical structure as an alternative of the 400V system in use right this moment, which can endow it with quicker charging occasions.
Insiders counsel the 10-80% cost time is ready to be lowered by as much as 10 minutes in contrast with right this moment’s EQS, taking as little as 21 minutes on a high-powered charger. Its 118kWh battery may even be uprated with new chemistry, which can improve the vary by 37 miles to 535 miles in its most effective guise. This know-how will probably be shared with the upcoming electrical CLA.
The one-speed gearbox may even get replaced by a brand new two-speed unit, offering the upgraded EQS with added efficiency potential and presumably the next prime velocity.
The refreshed S-Class will get a revised entrance finish and a few work performed beneath the hood. Its current twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 will apparently be upgraded to the most recent M177 V8 with a 48V mild-hybrid system. The automobile can be anticipated to get a level-three Dirve Pilot driver help system.
So, there’s rather a lot occurring right here, however the large information is that Mercedes-Benz is streamlining its naming scheme. I used to be by no means a fan of getting two separate mannequin traces for vehicles which might be purported to symbolize the identical issues, so it’s good to see a automobile firm being to my will.
