Mercedes wants to go all-electric, so why does it need the EQ brand anymore?
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by Sebastien Bell
5 hours ago
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by Sebastien Bell
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Mercedes’ intention to go all-electric will make the EQ naming convention that has defined its first generation of battery-powered vehicles redundant. As a result, the German automaker could drop the branding in as little as a year, according to company sources.
Germany’s Handelsblatt reported Thursday that unnamed company insiders say Mercedes’ focus on electrification will make EQ branding unnecessary on its next generation of electric cars. Those compact electric vehicles are set to find their way onto the market as of 2024, reports Reuters, suggesting that the automaker’s EVs may start dropping the EQ name next year.
Whether it will drop the Mercedes-EQ subbrand altogether remains unclear, but the automaker seems to recognize that branding should be flexible.
“With the goal of our parent brand Mercedes-Benz becoming fully electric by the end of the decade, we will adapt the positioning of the vehicles and thus also the use of the brand in line with the times, but it is too early for details on this at the moment,” a Mercedes-EQ spokesperson told the outlet.
Although EQ electric vehicles have only recently started finding their way onto showroom floors, the brand was first announced in 2016. Now, the EQE, EQS, and others are sold under the brand as electric equivalents to the internal combustion engine-powered E-Class and S-Class.
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Mercedes isn’t the only brand to create a subbrand for its electric vehicles, with BMW using the i line and Volkswagen employing the ID. nomenclature. With electric vehicles increasingly becoming the main focus, though, it too is reckoning with naming.
Reports emerged in November that VW would try to reconcile its electric and historic naming practices with the Golf. Despite the ID.3 effectively being the electric equivalent to the Golf, the company’s CEO, Thomas Schäfer, noted that “We would not let go of the Golf name, no way.”
Whether the next-generation electric hatchback will simply be called the Golf or the ID. Golf remains to be seen, but the rapid transition to electric drivetrains seems to be giving the German automakers’ naming departments a lot to think about. It’s an issue that American automakers seem to largely be sidestepping, by simply incorporating electric vehicles into their combustion vehicle lines, with the likes of the F-150 Lightning and the Chevrolet Silverado EV.
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