User Sugar Design presents on Instagram his vision of the future Mercedes C-Class EV, which takes over elements from the Vision EQXX concept.
Mercedes recently revised its electric strategy and adapted it to market demand. After Mercedes invested heavily in a dedicated electric platform for the EQE and EQS luxury models and their derivative SUVs, which are sold below expectations, the premium carmaker will move towards more affordable models.
The main priority is to launch two models competing with the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, which have cornered most sales in these segments.
Thus, Mercedes will drop the MB.EA large platform and invest in the MB.EA medium platform on which the future Mercedes C-Class EV and GLC EV models will be based. The Mercedes GLC EV will not only compete with the Tesla Model Y, the world’s best-selling electric model but also with the BMW iX3 successor in the Neue Klasse range, the Audi Q6 e-tron, and the Porsche Macan EV.
The Mercedes C-Class EV limousine will arrive first, towards the end of 2025, followed by the SUV—the MB.EA platform uses 800V technology, Mercedes’ new eATS 2.0 powertrain with silicon inverter and two-speed gearbox, and will have batteries of up to 100 kWh. There will be rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive versions.
Once the electric Mercedes CLA is launched at the end of 2024, Mercedes will drop the EQ names, so the electric versions will be called the Mercedes C-Class EV and GLC EV. Mercedes will continue to sell the C-Class with conventional engines on the MRA II platform in parallel and there will even be a new generation around 2027-2028.
The upcoming Mercedes C-Class EV is already running in tests with camouflaged bodywork and will have a length of around 4.70 meters, slightly shorter than the C-Class with conventional engines. Because the MB.EA Medium platform is all-electric, the front end will be more compact, and we expect the interior space to be more generous than the C-Class.
User Sugar Design has imagined a front end with EQXX Concept-inspired headlights, joined by a light strip and the rearward-facing Mercedes grille, like a shark’s mouth, with the Mercedes logo in the center. The camouflaged cars running in tests have a lower radiator grille, but the shape of the headlights cannot be seen yet under the camouflage. However, we can think that Mercedes might have taken inspiration from the design of the Vision EQXX.
At the rear, the taillights are reminiscent of the EQE and EQS, but unlike them, the boot lid is not rounded but ends in a small aileron.
The impressions are not too favorable on Instagram, and users jokingly ask if Geely is now in charge of Mercedes design or if electric car buyers want only ugly cars.
We’re not commenting on the design, which is a matter of taste, but in an electric car, design is also dictated by aerodynamics, and Mercedes is recognized as a champion of aerodynamics, the EQS having a record Cx of only 0.20.
