Words by Afzal Rawuther
Mercedes-Benz charted out the way forward for its cars at the Frankfurt International Motor Show and it stressed unfailingly on its commitment on electric and hybrid cars. Mercedes claimed that every car they produce will have an all-electric drivetrain option by 2022. More than 50 cars will be purely electric by 2020. Mercedes then turned its attention to the S Class, the best selling luxury sedan in the world in 2016 and brought out three new variants of the S Class: the S560e- the plug in hybrid, the S560 Coupe- the driver oriented luxe barge, and the S63 4MATIC Convertible.
The S560e will offer 50kms of range in purely electric mode and Mercedes claims that it will be the quietest and most refined Mercedes ever and will have the EQ badge, previously reserved for only Smart brand cars. Buoyed by the success of its compact cars the world over, Mercedes has decided to expand its compact car line-up to 8 cars from the current 5 cars.
After that, it was all electric. Mercedes Benz presented an EQA concept Mercedes claims will be the future of compact cars. An all electric car, it will be driven by two motors making a total of 270bhp and 500Nm of torque. It will have a range of 400kms and can be charged for a range of 100kms in 10 mins. Mercedes then went to talk about its new 48V system that they claim will be highly efficient.
The new GLC F Cell was also presented, further underlining Mercedes’ eco-friendly push. The GLC F Cell will be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and an electric motor. This marks the brand’s first foray into fuel-cell vehicles, a domain only the Japanese ventured into previously. The fuel-cell packs in an impressive 400kms of range with the batteries adding another 50kms of range.
Mercedes-Benz left no doubt as to how its future cars will be. And coming from one of the world’s marquee automotive brands, the automotive industry looks certain to switch to all electric and that to very soon.