Oh, glad 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 automobiles beneath one nameplate. Meaning 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 maintain an inner combustion-powered S-Class for its eighth era, due in 2030. That transfer will come regardless of its pledge to wholly change it with a second-generation EQS on the finish of the last decade. CEO Ola Källenius confirmed the 2 items of reports within the publication, saying, “There will probably be two S-Courses sooner or later – ICE and electrical.” I’ve obtained much more excellent news – the 2 automobiles will share inside and exterior designs, so that ought to come as a welcome shock to people (me) who don’t like the present look of the EQS.
Regardless of these similarities, the 2 automobiles won’t share an structure, in line with Autocar. The S-Class EV will use the upcoming MB.EA Massive platform and te ICE automotive will construct off of in the present day’s MRA structure. It’s an identical plan to what Mercedes-Benz has carried out 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 slightly extra on how Mercedes-Benz got here to this choice, and the way lackluster EQS demand damage the probabilities of the mannequin title persevering with, in line with AutoCar:
The unification of the 2 fashions follows disappointing gross sales of each the S-Class and EQS, with deliveries of the ICE automotive plummeting by 37% within the first quarter of 2024. This has resulted in S-Class manufacturing being lower to only a single shift on the Manufacturing unit 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 objective of pure-electric and plug-in hybrid fashions making up 50% of the model’s annual gross sales by the top 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 automotive parc rising by simply 2% to this point in 2024 in contrast with final 12 months, prompting producers resembling Audi, Ford and Porsche to alter tack and refocus on ICE and hybrid automobiles.
The outlet asserts that if the S-Class goes to proceed to have ICE choices, the E-Class’s subsequent era most likely will too – going together with its electric-powered model that’ll function a successor to the EQE sedan. A supply informed Autocar that the 2 autos are “carefully associated from a technical standpoint” and to construct one with out the opposite would “significantly have an effect on the economies of scale” Mercedes employs.
Anyway, earlier than the following era of S-Class arrives, Mercedes is planning on bringing in a spread of revisions and upgrades to the present EQS and S-Class, as Autocar explains:
Below the present plans, the electrical EQS will achieve a serious technical improve throughout the second half of 2025 and the combustion-engined S-Class saloon is ready to be facelifted in 2026.
The EQS has lately 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 a substitute of the 400V system in use in the present day, which can endow it with sooner charging instances.
Insiders counsel the 10-80% cost time is ready to be lowered by as much as 10 minutes in contrast with in the present day’s EQS, taking as little as 21 minutes on a high-powered charger. Its 118kWh battery will even be uprated with new chemistry, which can improve the vary by 37 miles to 535 miles in its best guise. This expertise will probably be shared with the upcoming electrical CLA.
The one-speed gearbox will even get replaced by a brand new two-speed unit, offering the upgraded EQS with added efficiency potential and presumably a better prime velocity.
The refreshed S-Class will get a revised entrance finish and a few work carried out beneath the hood. Its present twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 will apparently be upgraded to the newest M177 V8 with a 48V mild-hybrid system. The automotive can also be anticipated to get a level-three Dirve Pilot driver help system.
So, there’s so much 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 automobiles which are alleged to symbolize the identical issues, so it’s good to see a automotive firm being to my will.
