Market response
When presenting its electric future plans in 2021, Mercedes-Benz already played a trick. The market would ultimately be leading. That market is now causing Mercedes to slow down its EV transition.
Sales of electric cars are somewhat slower than Mercedes-Benz expected in the summer of 2021. The company then announced its ambition to invest almost exclusively in EV technology from 2025 and by 2030 it should be ready to switch to a fully electric offering ‘where the market allows’. That ‘where the market allows it’ appears to be essential for what is happening now. The market does not yet really allow things to move at such a pace and it does not seem likely to do so in the near future. Mercedes-Benz is adjusting its electric future plans.
Earlier this year, CEO Ola Källenius made it clear that the combustion engine will remain relevant for the time being and that Mercedes with fuel engines will continue to roll off the production line ‘well into the 1930s’. According to German Automobilwoche Mercedes-Benz is now also back on its aim to only introduce new models with a purely electric drive from 2028. This is a further brake on the electrification plans.
That’s not all. Also German Handelsblatt at the same time reports that Mercedes-Benz has halted the development of the MB.EA Large platform. On this basis, a next generation of luxury electric Mercedes models should appear, such as an electric successor to the S-class. However, it now suddenly seems that there may be a completely new generation of fuel engines for the S-class, for example, and that the EQS will remain alongside as an electric alternative. Another possibility is that Mercedes-Benz brings the two together in one model and you can go for a fuel or electric version. Consider, for example, how BMW is now doing this with the 7-series and i7.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl