Mercedes-Benz EQS going the way of the dodo, new S-Class EV planned, says report

STUTTGART: Mercedes-Benz EQS sales are doing poorly - so much so the Stuttgart automaker has decided to canned it in the next generation.

CEO Ola Källenius said the EQS would be axed in favour of two types of S-Class as it sought to unify their design. One will still be based on an internal combustion engine (ICE); the other will be fully electric.

The design of both variants would be similar inside and out but they would be based on different platforms, Källenius told UK's Autocar.

Meanwhile, both the EQS and the S-Class would continue to be updated until the eighth generation model arrives by 2030.

The EQS' bulbous design has drawn criticisms from the target buyers who still prefer the traditional look of the S-Class. In that sense, BMW has got its formula right from the start, with both the 7 Series and i7 looking similar to each other but with different grilles to set them apart.

Autocar reported that the new S-Class EV would use an all-new MB.EA Large platform, while its ICE counterpart would ride on an evolved version of the current Modular Rear Architecture (MRA) architecture.

Sales of the current S-Class is doing miserably also - having dropped 37% in Q1, and Mercedes was forced to cut production at its Sindelfingen plant in Germany.

As the S-Class and E-Class are closely related to each other technically, Mercedes-Benz would ensure the E-Class follows a similar route as the next-gen S-Class, an insider told Autocar. That means there would be an ICE (petrol and diesel) and electric versions of the E-Class in its upcoming seventh generation. The EQE would also be taken out of production by then.