Mercedes prepares electric equivalent to its S-Class luxury sedan
It could hit the road as soon as 2020.
Mercedes-Benz is joining the ranks of car manufacturers working on hyper-luxurious EVs. In a chat with Autocar, the company's large car division leader Michael Kelz promised an electric car "at the level" of the high-end S-Class sedan. The exec unsurprisingly isn't providing many details, but confirmed its EQ S name (the company had trademarked the badging earlier) and noted that it wouldn't share the S-Class' underpinnings -- the conventional car just can't accommodate a pure electric design. We'd expect the EQ design language to find its way into this model as well.
The company had previously promised electric versions of all its cars by 2022, but the EQ S could be ready as soon as 2020.
This isn't exactly democratizing EVs (that's up to the sibling Smart brand). However, the EQ S could still be important. Technology from Mercedes' highest-end vehicles sometimes filters down to other models, for starters. Also, having an S-Class parallel could give EVs a degree of prestige they haven't had before -- this would be one of the first EVs for customers with their own chauffeurs.
