Stuttgart poised to remain in the small car biz as it moves into its electric era
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It’s no secret the world’s largest car companies are planning to exit this decade as the purveyors of all-electric cars. Some intend to convert their entire catalog, whilst others plan to leave a few internal combustion choices in the hopper — for now. At Mercedes-Benz, the transformation to EVs is well underway, and our spies in Germany have caught its latest effort.
It appears the German brand won’t be stepping away from the entry-level rung of its price ladder just yet. Underneath that eye-crossing camouflage appears to be a small sedan, possibly called the EQA if the company hews to its current naming convention. We have no reason to believe it won’t, by the way. This test mule was nabbed traversing roads between the workshops at Merc’s development centre, meaning our boots on the ground must have camera lenses the size and shape of baseball bats.
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This car is likely to be an eventual replacement for the present-day A-Class hatchback and sedan, though the brand will almost certainly produce a compact crossover (EQA SUV, perhaps?) using these bones; the popularity of that segment demands such a machine be produced after all, and Mercedes-Benz isn’t given to leaving money on der table.
Still, it’s good news for the rest of us that M-B doesn’t yet seem ready to give up on the ubiquitous four-door car, even if it does turn out to be a so-called ‘four-door coupe.’ Since aerodynamics play a huge role in determining the total driving range of an all-electric, the wind-friendly ‘coupé-style’ silhouette lends itself well to achieving EV goals. Witness the existing EQE and EQS sedans, for example. Will the upcoming EQA have a fixed rear window, or will it rise like a hatchback? We’ll have to wait and see.
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Don’t take the round afterburner-style taillights out back too seriously; after all, this is still a testing mule. The units will likely be swapped out for production lenses later in the car’s development cycle. And remember: unlike the EQE and EQS, chances are high the EQA will ride on a platform which was primarily developed for EV use but can be altered to fit an ICE powertrain should the company demand it.
Current A-Class and B-Class production is rumoured to end in 2025. This compact electric four-door model, be it a Mercedes EQA Sedan or a Mercedes EQA four-door coupé, may arrive that same year. This will help fulfil the expectation that pure electric vehicles will account for 25 per cent of global sales in 2025. Whether this diminutive scamp comes to North America remains to be seen, of course.
Matthew Guy
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