Future Electric Mercedes Cars Will Be Named ‘With EQ Technology’

The parents at Mercedes-Benz will not come out and straight say it, however they get that folks aren’t actually into the present “EQ” household of electrical autos. Their ultra-smooth styling has confirmed extraordinarily polarizing, gross sales have trailed rivals like BMW, and to high it off, there is no means across the awkwardness of names like “AMG EQS SUV.” So for its subsequent go at EVs, Mercedes is taking a special method: protecting the “class” names folks know and love, however appending the title “with EQ Know-how,” identical to on this new Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ Know-how.

We have identified for over a yr that Mercedes was planning to drop the devoted “EQ” model for electrical autos. However we did not know what type the subsequent step would take till Britta Seeger, the Mercedes AG board member for advertising and gross sales, confirmed the brand new technique on a name with reporters forward of the electrical G-Class’ debut. 

“That is the primary automotive the place we are saying, we’ll hold our product identify and we consider the expertise which is inside,” Seeger mentioned of that SUV. “To 99-point-something p.c, you will note they’re equal, design-wise. That is why we have chosen to say it is a G-Class with EQ Know-how. This will probably be, going ahead, our nomenclature for these vehicles.”  

She added that fashions “in the marketplace” proper now, just like the EQE and just lately redesigned EQS, will hold their present names. However she confirmed that upcoming fashions, such because the manufacturing model of the electrical CLA Idea, can be known as “CLA with EQ Know-how” or one thing related.

“Why did we select [to do] so? As a result of we have seen that message the Mercedes prospects they like to establish themselves with the courses we’ve got,” she mentioned, resembling being an E-Class or S-Class proprietor. “We consider it is the suitable cut-off date to face with the G-Class identify and focus on the expertise that you just discover inside, and this would be the identical for all future vehicles to come back.”

Seeger added, “That is why we put, on the forefront, the traditional Mercedes identify of a category [like] C-Class, after which we consider the expertise.”

The transfer is smart, and it tracks with a sure sentiment each inside the corporate and outdoors of it: that the present method with the EQ vehicles is not precisely working.

At CES this yr, Mercedes’ VP of automotive engineering Christoph Starzynski informed High Gear that these vehicles’ designs have postpone conventional Benz consumers. And in a “absolutely electrical” world, it was changing into a problem to call all of their vehicles. (For the document, I’m really a fan of the EQE sedan, however I appear to be within the minority there.)

Moreover, names like S-Class, E-Class and G-Class have a long time of brand name fairness that different rivals would kill for; why eliminate these simply because the powertrains are completely different? It’s kind of like how BMW’s upcoming Neue Klasse platform is anticipated to maintain the three Sequence and X3 names indirectly. Automakers do not wish to throw these out once they dump gasoline. 

Audi has had related struggles, however as an alternative is opting to make even-numbered vehicles like A4 and Q6 into EVs whereas protecting the odd-numbered ones combustion-powered. We’ll see how lengthy that method sticks round, as a result of it is arguably extra complicated. 

Hopefully, then, the brand new G-Class with EQ Know-how provides us a preview of what to anticipate from Mercedes within the coming years: vehicles a lot nearer to the standard ones everybody is aware of, simply with batteries as an alternative of engines—and possibly a bit extra of a mouthful of a reputation.

Contact the creator: patrick.george@insideevs.com