The company plans to keep making gas-powered S-Class cars, even though they once thought about replacing them with electric versions. This change will happen when the eighth generation S-Class comes out, which is set for 2030.
Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius explained the plan: "There will be two S-Classes in the future – ICE and electric."
The EQS name will go away. Both the gas and electric versions will be called S-Class. They'll look similar on the outside and inside, but they'll be built on different platforms. The electric S-Class will use the MB.EA Large platform, while the gas-powered one will stick with an updated version of the current MRA platform.
Mercedes is doing something similar with its G-Class. Now, you can get a G-Class with either a gas engine or an electric motor, and they look pretty much the same.
Why is Mercedes making this change? Sales haven't been great lately. S-Class deliveries dropped by 37% in the first three months of 2024. The company even had to cut production at its Factory 56 in Sindelfingen, Germany, to just one shift.
Electric vehicle sales haven't met targets either. Mercedes wanted more than 20% of its 2,043,800 global sales in 2023 to be electric. They only reached 11%, even though EV sales went up by 73% from 2022.
The company's also adjusting its goals for electric and hybrid car sales. They once aimed for 50% of annual sales to come from these types of cars by the end of 2025. Now, they're pushing that target to 2030.
This shift isn't just happening at Mercedes. The whole car industry is seeing slower adoption of electric vehicles. In Europe, the number of EVs on the road only grew by 2% in 2024 compared to the year before. Other car makers like Audi, Ford, and Porsche are also putting more focus back on gas-powered and hybrid cars.
It looks like the road to an all-electric future might be a bit longer and bumpier than carmakers first thought. But for luxury car fans, it means more choices when picking their next ride.
Source: Autocar
