New Mercedes EVs are coming -- and they'll be ahead of schedule
That's a tall order, but Mercedes believes it can deliver.
Automakers in 2017 are keen to announce entire EV lineups that won't be arriving for nearly a decade. But over at Daimler, things are apparently moving just a bit faster.
Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz , will introduce 10 electric vehicles to its portfolio ahead of schedule, according to Green Car Reports, citing an exchange with the automaker. Instead of the cars arriving by 2025, they'll be here by 2022. That's not a huge jump, but it means those cars are only about five years away.
GCR claims the first of this slew of new EVs will adopt a shape and size similar to the Generation EQ concept from last year's Paris Motor Show . It's about on par with the GLC-Class crossover, the automaker's second smallest US ute. It sounds like Mercedes will still use EQ as the name for its new lineup of electric vehicles.
If it looks anything like the concept, the first EQ vehicle is going to be a stunner.
If Daimler is in a place where it can accelerate the timetable on its EV launches, it could very well give the German automaker a solid advantage as its primary competitors also move toward electrification.
Volkswagen has not been shy about its electric aspirations, promising some 30 electric vehicles over the next decade. That includes Porsche's forthcoming production Mission E, as well as a production version of the ID concept, which uses a brand new platform dedicated to electric vehicles.
BMW is likely to continue offering unique electric vehicles like the i3, but it also wants to integrate electrification across the lineup. It's already moving that way with plug-in hybrid variants of the 3, 5 and 7 Series. In the future, it will offer an all-electric version of the X3 crossover, as well as a battery-electric Mini.
Daimler's already made moves in that direction, albeit not necessarily with passenger cars. It will debut its Urban eTruck this year in Germany, albeit in a low-volume pilot program that will gather data to help refine the truck before a wider rollout across Europe.
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