A Mercedes-Benz Vision EQS S-Class luxury electric automobile sits on stage during the Daimler AG ... [+]
Mercedes-Benz will begin production of six all-electric EQ models by the end of 2022 and two of them will be assembled at its plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The German automaker announced the plans Monday as part of its “Ambition 2039” initiative to attain carbon neutrality throughout its product line.
“Our vehicle portfolio becomes electric and thus also our global production network with vehicle and battery factories,” said Markus Schafer, Mercedes-Benz chief operation officer, in a statement. “We intend to lead in the field of e-mobility and focus in particular on battery technology.”
The new battery-powered vehicles will include the EQS, which will be assembled at the company’s Sindelfingen, Germany, plan, beginning in the second half of 2021. Production will be expanded to Tuscaloosa in 2022. The EQS is about the same size as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan.
Other models will be the EQA, an SUV, already produced in Rastatt, Germany, but Mercedes will also make it at a new assembly line in Beijing, China, in 2021.
Production of the EQB SUV will begin next year in Kecskemet, Hungary, and Beijing in 2021. It will be the first EQ model to be sold in the United States.
The EQE, which is about the same size as the Mercedes-Benz GLE utility vehicle, will be launched in Bremen, Germany, Beijing in 2021, and in Tuscaloosa sometime in 2022.
The Mercedes-Benz AG fully electric EQC sport utility vehicle (SUV) is displayed during AutoMobility ... [+]
Additional EQ models will be introduced later in the decade.
Mercedes also plans to manufacture battery systems in the U.S., Germany, Poland and China.
The EQ sub-brand launched in 2019 with the EQC in Bremen, Germany. Earlier this year, Mercedes introduced the EQV van, which it makes at its assembly plant in Vittoria, Spain.
“We are investing more than 10 billion euros in the development of our EQ vehicle portfolio alone,” said Ola Kallenius, CEO of Daimler AG. “We will also be electrifying the entire Mercedes-Benz portfolio and our customers will thus have the choice of at least one electric alternative in every Mercedes-Benz model series, taking the total to 50 overall.”
The automaker will continue to manufacture plug-in hybrids in models such as its VLC 350e 4Matic. Mercedes currently offers about 20 plug-in hybrid choices, and plans to increase that to 25 by 2025.
The goal is to achieve half of all sales from mild-hybrid and all-electric powertrains by 2030.
