Sooner or later, the transformation was going to come. Mercedes wants to become a 100% electric brand by 2030, and hence all developments related to combustion are coming to an end.
Mercedes, like the good Germans they are, have their agenda fully scheduled for the next few years. Those from Stuttgart have clear plans to switch to 100% electric formats from 2030, and that means leaving behind a completely different era. With the entire range employing electric systems, Mercedes officially announces that the next generation Mercedes E-Class will be the last of its kind. It will be the last Mercedes to enjoy a traditional platform designed for combustion cars. We are at the end of one era and the beginning of a completely different one.
The brand that patented and created the first car wants to once again be a reference in its sector. Mercedes currently already offers a complete range of 100% electric models, the most extensive on the market, with models ranging from the Mercedes EQA to the impressive and huge Mercedes EQS SUV. The EQ range will gain even more prominence in the future when more priced access units are introduced. The Mercedes C-Class will become the access model to what the Germans call Entry Luxury, and will offer a completely different style to the current EQE and EQS.
A few months ago Mercedes officially announced that it was changing its development approach. Over the years and the updates, all the star models would have an electric platform, including the thermal versions. Currently, part of the electrified fleet is based on modified combustion car architectures. That will be in the past and it will be the combustion models that will have to adapt to the specifications of the different electrical platforms of the house.
Four will be the platforms that Mercedes will use in the future, all of them specifically designed to incorporate long-range plug-in electrical schemes. The platforms already announced are MMA and MB.EA, AMG.EA and VAN.EA. As we have said before, the Mercedes C-Class will once again position itself as the electric access model by enjoying the MMA platform and given the more than foreseeable disappearance of compact models. Its commercial life will start in 2024, one year after the launch of the next generation of the E-Class.
The Mercedes E-Class has a very special history within the company, and in a way, the board of directors has decided that it be the last to complete a stage. The new generation will be presented in society next year, in mid-2023, with a platform that still focuses on thermal versions over electric ones. Its launch will put an end to a strategy that has brought great success to the house. Currently, Class S and Class C use the same platform, although they will also disappear in the future.
Confirmation of such an event has come from Mercedes’ head of development, Markus Schäfer, during an interview with Automobilwoche: “As things stand today, the E-Class and its derivatives will be the latest Mercedes- Benz created on a pure combustion platform. Mercedes’ goal is to put only new battery-electric vehicles on the road by 2030, market conditions permitting.” In said interview, Schäfer has also made it clear that the brand is also thinking about hydrogen, but only for its range of trucks since for passenger vehicles, it is completely focused on electrification.
