The German carmaker’s CEO got a range of luxury Mercedes electric vehicles on the street in the next 18 months, while unveiling a version of the S-Class saloon with a battery-powered version, designed to please customers luring away from people like Tesla.
Ola Källenius, leader of Mercedes’ parent group Daimler, told the Financial Times that the EQS, which will be offered for sale in late summer, will be followed by an all-electric E-Class saloon and two sports utility vehicles based on the same platform. within two years.
By the end of the period, the range would be available in Europe, China and the US, he added, complementing a cheaper range of five electric compact cars and the Mercedes EQV staff ship.
The EQS, which has received a tremendous reception from leading analysts, has an advertised range of up to 770km per full charge, surpassing the Tesla’s Model S and BMW’s upcoming iNEXT.
Some of the features of the EQS, such as the ability to offer over-the-air updates that unlock new features, have been a mainstay in products by younger competitors, including Tesla and China’s Nio.
Källenius said internal market research has shown that the model can become a ‘conquest vehicle’, attracting customers who ‘may not be looking at Mercedes’.
The Stuttgart-based company has been building a brand promise for more than 100 years, and with it a ‘certain promise’. This will attract affluent consumers, he added.
While profit margins for the EQS are lower than for the profitable S-Class, Källenius said the car would start at a healthy profitability level from the start, which would improve as battery costs dropped.
The model, which has not yet been priced, is likely to sell between 80,000 and 150,000 euros, Bernstein analyst Arndt Ellinghorst predicted, depending on the specifications.
Mercedes will earn an easy 20 percent [margin] on the high version, ”he added, while basic versions would be between 10 and 15 percent.
Although manufactured on the same production line as its brother with internal combustion engines, Källenius said Mercedes will not limit the number of EQS cars it has made to retain the capacity of the S-Class, which has more than 50,000 orders since attracted. launched last September.
“We are not going to artificially strangle the driveway of our electric vehicles,” the Swedish management said.
Mercedes, which sold 160,000 battery and hybrid vehicles last year and exceeded EU emissions targets too much, aims to almost double its sales of electrified cars by 2021.
The parent company Daimler’s shares have risen by more than 200 percent to € 75.36 since the lows in March last year, driven in part by strong sales in the Asia-Pacific region. In the three months to the end of March, Mercedes set a record in 222,520 vehicles.
Källenius said he believes the brand will continue to see ‘high growth rates in the second half of the year’, due to pent-up demand, before sales level again.
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