Mercedes SA Plans To Introduce Five Full Battery Electric Vehicles In 2022

Mercedes-Benz announced today the introduction of five full Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) for South Africa in 2022.

Five new models from the global Mercedes-EQ range will be launched during the course of 2022 in South Africa as part of a clear strategic push to position the brand as a global and local leader in the electric vehicle market.

The range for 2022 includes the EQA SUV, the family-sized SUV EQB, The mid-sized EQC, based on the GLC platform, the electric business sedan EQE and the luxury sedan EQS. These fully electric vehicles from the Mercedes-EQ family are part of a transformation that’s gaining momentum rapidly.

Through the introduction and inauguration of Mercedes-EQ to the South African market – the all-electric world of Mercedes-Benz and the brand which represents all electric-powered vehicles, Mercedes-Benz provided further proof that the age of electric mobility has arrived.

Five new models from the global Mercedes-EQ range will be launched during the course of 2022 in South Africa as part of a clear strategic push to position the brand as a global and local leader in the electric vehicle market.

The range for 2022 includes the EQA SUV, the family-sized SUV EQB, The mid-sized EQC, based on the GLC platform, the electric business sedan EQE and the luxury sedan EQS. These fully electric vehicles from the Mercedes-EQ family are part of a transformation that’s gaining momentum rapidly.

Leading in electric drive and digitization is a key pillar of the Mercedes-Benz strategy that was announced by Mark Raine, newly appointed President of Mercedes-Benz Cars and Co-CEO of Mercedes-Benz South Africa.

The new strategy aims to leverage the brand’s strengths in the luxury space, while unlocking the full potential of its unique speciality brands, namely AMG, Maybach, and EQ.

Raine further added that whilst electric vehicle sales is relatively small in South Africa, we will follow the global push towards zero-emission mobility.

The Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, Ola Kallenius, has already stated that over the next 20 years, Mercedes-Benz Cars aims to have a Carbon-neutral new passenger car fleet and aims to have plug-in hybrids or all-electric vehicles to make up more than 50% of its car sales by 2030.

Raine commented that while “South Africa is not without its challenges in terms of the EV landscape, with our customer-centric growth strategy curated towards the local market a significant interest has already been shown by potential customers for our EQ range. This interest is aided by the growth in the public charging grid including national coverage on main routes, and the number of potential customers with existing renewable energy solutions (or considering these in the near-future). Based on these developments, we are confident that the cars we bring into the country will find many happy owners.”

Raine is confident that South Africa will see a strong uptake and growth in the luxury electric vehicle market in the next 12-24 months.

“Technology is the key to engineering a sustainable future. As the leading premium luxury automotive brand, we are once again leading the way into the future of the automobile and mobility as a whole”. Raine announced that Mercedes-Benz Cars will collaborate with Grid Cars for public charging, and that every EQ customer will additionally receive a complimentary Mercedes-EQ wall charger, installed at a location of their choice.

Raine added that 36 of its Agent partners across South Africa have been appointed as Retail and Service partners for Mercedes-EQ, which will add to the public charging grid and also provide highly trained professionals both at sales and aftersales levels to help overcome any reservations around issues like range anxiety.