AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/22 Report--

On February 21st, Mercedes-Benz EQs SUV officially launched three new models, including EQS 450 + pure electric SUV, EQS 450 4MATIC avant-garde pure electric SUV and EQS 450 4MATIC deluxe pure electric SUV. The manufacturer's suggested retail price range is 91.05-1.1005 million yuan. It is understood that the new car is based on EVA pure electric platform to build, positioning large pure electric SUV. It is worth mentioning that Mercedes-Benz officials say the EQE SUV will soon be produced in China, and Maybach EQS SUV will make its global debut at the 2023 Shanghai Motor Show in April.

In terms of appearance, EQS SUV maintains the classic design style of the Mercedes-Benz EQ family. The front face adopts a large-size closed front grille design called "Night Starshine". The whole system is equipped with a standard glowing star, a huge Mercedes-Benz LOGO in the middle of the front, a combination of headlights on both sides and the front grille, and is connected by a penetrating LED daytime driving lamp called "Ring of time and Space". After lighting, it has a certain degree of recognition. At the same time, the visual width of the front of the car is increased. In addition, the front surround of the new car adopts a more athletic design, and the ventilation openings on both sides show a fighting atmosphere, and the overall collocation makes the new car look like a good visual impact.

On the side of the body, the EQS SUV body line extends upward from the rounded front, through the sloping A column and roof, to the rear spoiler at the rear, the overall structure shows a slender posture. At the same time, the upper beam of the car body is decorated with black, so as to achieve the visual effect of reducing the height of the car body, and the window frame is decorated with three-dimensional chrome strips. In terms of size, the length, width and height of EQS SUV are 5125/1959/1718mm and the wheelbase is 3210mm.

In the rear part, the highlight of the new car design is the through taillight group, the interior of the lamp group is a curved 3D spiral shape, which has a good recognition after lighting. The tail door connects smoothly with the rear surround, the wheel arch cover lining and the bottom of the rear bumper are black, and the bottom diffuser is decorated with chrome to highlight the exquisite feeling.

When entering the car, the interior layout of EQS SUV basically continues the design style of EQS. The Hyperscreen superconnected screen uses curved screen OLED technology, and three touch screens completely replace the physical key function, of which the central control screen is 17.7in, the full LCD instrument and the passenger screen are both 12.3in. In terms of color matching, EQS SUV will provide seven different color combinations, such as star ash, space ash and Baraomu brown, and the vehicles will also be decorated with star emblem patterns in details such as the central aisle panel. In terms of space, EQS SUV provides 5-seat and 7-seat seat layout, with the exception of the first row, other seats can be put down, providing a flexible space layout.

In terms of power, the new car will offer two power systems: 450 + and 450 4MATIC. Among them, 450 + is rear single-motor rear wheel drive with a maximum power of 265kW and a maximum torque of 568Nm, while the 4504MATIC adopts dual-motor four-wheel drive with a maximum power of 265kW and a maximum torque of 800Nm. The ternary lithium battery pack with the capacity of 111.8kWh is used in both power systems, and the maximum mileage under CLTC condition is 742km.

From the current domestic market environment, the luxury brand pure electric SUV, which is the same as EQS SUV positioning, is very rare, but from the size and product positioning, EQS SUV may form some competitive relationship with BMW IX and Tesla Model X. In contrast, Mercedes-Benz EQs SUV has a better sense of luxury and overall performance than its competitors, but as a million-class electric car, its market performance is not expected to be very good, especially luxury brands in the context of new energy vehicles are not very good, it is increasingly difficult to break through.

As the oldest car company, Mercedes-Benz brand has long adhered to the mainstream position of the global luxury market. Data show that Mercedes-Benz delivered 2.0439 million passenger cars worldwide in 2022, down 1.0% from a year earlier. In the Chinese market, Mercedes-Benz delivered a total of 751700 new cars for the whole year, down 0.9 per cent from a year earlier.

In the past two years, the most frequently mentioned key word of traditional luxury car companies, including Mercedes-Benz, is "electrification", which is not only the inevitable trend of the future development of all car companies, but also a "century-old change" in the history of the automobile industry. On the road to electric vehicles, Mercedes-Benz delivered 319200 electric vehicles worldwide in 2022, including plug-in hybrids, all-electric vehicles and smart-branded pure electric vehicles, up 19 per cent from a year earlier and accounting for 15 per cent of its total retail sales.

In 2023, Mercedes-Benz will launch six new pure electric models and plug-in hybrid models into the domestic market, forming a matrix of 17 new energy products covering all major market segments. According to the current plan, starting from 2025, all newly released models of Mercedes-Benz will be pure electric platforms, and each model will provide customers with pure electric version options. By 2030, Mercedes-Benz will be ready for full pure electric power in the market where conditions permit; by 2039, Mercedes-Benz will achieve carbon neutralization of the new car lineup and build a luxury travel ecology with zero emissions.

However, like many luxury brands, Mercedes-Benz electric cars do not perform well in the domestic market. From 2021 to now, Mercedes-Benz has launched pure electric vehicles such as EQA, EQB, EQC, EQE, EQS and EQS SUV in China, but its sales are very bleak. EQA, EQB and EQC are all oil-to-electric models, which are based on A-class, B-class and C-class respectively, while EQE and EQS are built on a new pure electric platform, but their prices are very expensive, coupled with the fact that the performance of domestic electric vehicles is not poor, making overseas brands not as expected in the pure electric vehicle market.

Generally speaking, BBA is actively transforming to streetcars, although it has precipitated technology and brand premium effect, but now in the electrical age, technological advantages may be gone. Consumers buy BBA electric cars, social showing-off psychology and brand considerations account for a large part of the reasons. Of course, for the established auto giants, there is no doubt about the accumulation in the automobile industry. In fact, it is not very difficult to transform electric vehicles to maintain their brand advantages. Although the labor pains are inevitable in the early stage, once they keep up with the pace, they will not be left behind in the electric car tide.

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