Brought three years ago Mercedes Benz the electric SUV EQC on the market. It was the first all-electric high-volume model from the newly created electric brand EQ. But now the model is apparently being pushed back onto the sidings, and according to information from several media outlets, production of the EQC is to be phased out as early as May 2023. The car manufacturer did not want to comment on the speculation to manager magazin.
There can be no question of a scheduled end to the model, after all, the launch of the new electric C-Class as a successor is only planned for 2025. Therefore, the disappointing sales is probably a reason for the production stop. Only just under 4000 copies were sold last year, in the first half of 2022 it looks even worse with around 1000 units sold so far. For classification: Mercedes-Benz delivered a total of around 99,300 electric cars last year.
Slow transition to e-mobility
The main problem: the model The EQC is not a classic one electric car, but a conversion based on the best-selling combustion engine GLC. The vehicle did not have its own platform, like the later EQS or EQE. The EQC looked more like a modified version of the GLC – only the battery was a whopping 650 kilograms heavier.
The EQC has involuntarily become a symbol of how difficult it was to launch under the name Daimler company car manufacturer did with electric technology for a long time. The then CEO Dieter Zetsche (69) held on to the combustion engine for a long time and invested in this technology, while other manufacturers were already switching.
Only when Ola Källenius (53), who was born in Sweden, took over the management of the group, did Daimler embark on the e-car course. By 2025, around 50 percent of the models offered by Mercedes-Benz will be electrically powered. But Källenius also keeps a back door open: Unlike Volkswagen Mercedes-Benz can build both electric and combustion variants of the respective models in its plants.
Smart Forfour – high price, short range
World premiere: In the summer of 2014, the Smart Forfour was presented to the public for the first time
Photo: Soeren Stache/dpa
The former Daimler boss Zetsche only saw potential in terms of electromobility at Smart. Therefore, in 2017, he switched the micro brand completely to electric drive. With the Smart Forfour, the Stuttgart-based company also built a four-seater of the city runabout.
But just a few years later, production of the model was stopped again in December 2021. Here, too, demand was disappointing, with only 6,610 Smart Forfour vehicles newly registered last year. For comparison: 17,413 Smart Fortwos were registered in the same period. Many interested parties were put off by the high price and comparatively low range.
But the demand for the Smart Fortwo did not develop as hoped. Group boss Källenius therefore pulled the ripcord, changed the concept and founded a joint venture called Smart Automobile with his Chinese partner Geely in 2020. The two carmakers now want to work together to optimize mobility in large cities. The cars are developed and produced in China, only the design stays in Germany settled. The new Smart will be launched later this year, the Smart #1.
This vehicle also makes the new strategy of Mercedes-Benz clear: In May, Källenius announced, to focus even more on luxury in the future and to want to say goodbye to small cars. The Smart #1 is no longer a small car, but a small SUV.
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These are the most popular electric cars in Germany
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Photo: MICHAEL REYNOLDS / EPA
For the German premium brands, this business is against the background of the current semiconductor shortage, the corona pandemic and the delivery bottlenecks
more lucrative. They put the few available chips in their high-margin premium models and are able to post record profits despite a drop in sales. Also currently using many Asian suppliers fill the local gap in supply
and flood the European market with cheap e-cars.
BMW i3 – expensive carbon model
First e-car from a German car manufacturer: The then Chancellor Angela Merkel took a look at the small electric miracle in September 2013 at the IAA in Frankfurt
Photo: ? Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters/ REUTERS
BMW boss Oliver Zipse (58) is also concentrating on the premium models. His electric car pioneer, the i3, rolled off the assembly line in Leipzig for the last time in June of this year. The small car came onto the market in 2013 as the first electric car from a German manufacturer and has been produced around 250,000 times to date. This makes the i3 the most successful Stromer from Munich to date. Zipse recently even said that bmw actually earn money with the i3 and granted the model an extension until 2024. But now it’s over earlier than planned.
Officially, BMW justified this with the customer’s desire for a different design and more size. Therefore, there should not be a direct successor. The group refers to the electric Mini as an alternative for the city. On the other hand, if you are looking for more space and SUV characteristics, you will be well served with the new iX1, which will also roll off the assembly line in Leipzig from autumn 2022. Both models are of course significantly more expensive than the i3. In addition, the small car is significantly more expensive to produce than comparable BMW models due to the use of carbon – and yet it is not significantly more fuel-efficient.
VW E-Golf – a Golf with an electric motor and battery
After all, in Wolfsburg, work is being done on a new electric “Volks-Stromer”. The new small car from Volkswagen below the ID.3 is expected to come onto the market in 2025. A price of around 20,000 euros was actually planned. But it is now clear that the car will cost at least 25,000 euros due to the increased cost of raw materials. However, this is still significantly cheaper than the entry-level models of the two competitors.
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The Volkswagen Group has long since said goodbye to its electric pioneer, the successful e-Golf. The model started in 2014 only in Wolfsburg, but due to the high demand, the vehicle then rolled off the assembly line in Dresden from 2017. The e-Golf was produced a total of 145,561 times, it was the most successful e-car in the Group. But in December 2020 it was over.
As with the Mercedes EQC, the problem here was that the e-Golf was built as a conventional Golf, just with an electric motor and battery instead of a combustion engine and tank. The successor to the E-Golf, the ID.3, on the other hand, was developed from scratch as an electric car based on the modular electric construction kit (MEB), the electric car platform of the VW Group.