Will Daimler Create a Mercedes-EQ Subbrand?
I know it sounds silly now, but following their naming conventions, a Mercedes-EQ sub-brand makes more sense than what’s currently being pushed out. And here’s why.
Background on the Problem
Daimler AG spent a lof or money about 5 years ago refreshing their nomenclature to expand mostly into new crossover and SUV models. They renamed the M-Class/’GL’ model the ‘GLE‘ and the Euro-centric ‘GLK‘ models became the internationally-appealing ‘GLC’ models. They also went on to create the ‘GLA‘ and ‘GLS‘ at both extremes and now the ‘GLB‘ will squeeze into a new niche of its own. This is all fine and dandy because any human being can deduce that the ‘GL’ prefix denotes a crossover/SUV and the suffix at the end tells you what class or model family it belongs to.
Now though we have a problem. At the Frankfurt International Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz showed a new concept car called the Vision EQS. It’s essentially a flagship ‘S-Class’ equivalent in their all-electric EQ series.
We’re not going to go too much into it here, but just know that it’s got 350kWs, 760 Nm of torque and accelerates from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds. It also charges 80% of its battery in 20 minutes and has a max range of 700km.
Here’s Where the Problem is
The problem is this: the EQ family already has a model in production called the EQC. You probably saw that it was teased in Malaysia (maybe to show the government which way they should steer the NAP). The problem is that the EQC is a crossover. So it’s not really an ‘EQ’ family ‘C-Class’ but an ‘EQ’ family ‘GLC’.
So within the span of a decade, Daimler rewrote their nomenclature to help identify and expand upon SUVs only to shoot themselves in the foot and create an SUV EQC and sedan EQS… Well, at least the latter is still a concept car.
There’s still time, and I think before the EQ family grows any larger, they ought to just come up with Mercedes-EQ to join their Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach subbrands.
Sure, these EQ cars are completely different from their petrol/diesel counterparts, but there ought to be some commonality, and if the ‘spirit’ of the vehicle is the same, something like a Mercedes-EQ GLC would still work even if it’s a completely different car.
About the Author
Subhash Nair Written work on dsf.my. @subhashtag on instagram. Autophiles Malaysia on Youtube.
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