No Mercedes-Benz EQC For The USA?
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Mercedes-Benz reportedly decided that it’s not going to sell its new electric vehicle, the EQC, in the USA. This follows the year-old announcement of the company delaying the American launch of its EV until this year. A company spokesperson told Autoblog, “Following a comprehensive review of market developments, the EQC will not be offered in the United States for now.”
The article noted that the company’s statement suggested that the model could be here someday and that it was developed with American regulations in mind. However, the company’s decision to not sell it here is a bit odd. Given the fact that the company reportedly had high hopes for it and priced it affordably compared to its other luxury ICE (internal combustion engine) models, canceling it suddenly is just really strange.
Mercedes-Benz had priced its EQC at $68,895. There were three trim levels that it planned to offer here. Autoblog noted that the representative they spoke with confirmed that the next electric Mercedes-Benz that would launch in the US was the EQS, which will be positioned as a green alternative to its new S-Class. It should land in showrooms this fall as a 2022 model. We’ll see.
For Tesla critics who claimed the EQC would be big competition for Tesla SUVs, it appears they will have to hang their hopes on yet another future model.
Mercedes Is Sluggish On EVs
It appears Mercedes-Benz is serious about EVs yet. Earlier this month, it was noted that Mercedes Benz was trying to convince its customer base in Europe to buy ICE vehicles instead of its EQA. Customers who were trying to configure their EQA on Mercedes-Benz’s website were redirected to “similar new vehicles that are already available,” and none of these vehicles were electric. (So how similar were they, really?)
There could be many reasons that Mercedes is not launching its EQC here in the US, but the bottom line is that the company isn’t trying hard enough to sell its EVs. The real question is why?
Why would a company try to reduce the sales of its products? Why would a company cancel the launch of a product? Mercedes could be unsure of its electric products. I think that Mercedes-Benz isn’t confident its EVs will sell to the point that they will make a profit, as it does with its ICE vehicles. This is why, I believe, they are trying to push ICEVs over EVs while canceling the launch of an EV here in the US. It’s all about money.
Another possibility is that Mercedes is having a supply problem. It could be having trouble securing the batteries it would need for the vehicle, for example. There are no clear indications recently that’s the case. However, it was blamed for the EQC’s delayed launch last year.
Another option? It just doesn’t care. If it isn’t forced to sell EVs, it doesn’t want to sell EVs.
There has always been a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) put forth by Tesla’s vocal critics about the future of Tesla. One of the most common claims is that the “competition is coming” from legacy automakers. Unfortunately, the coming cvalry is often underwhelming. Naturally, if Mercedes can’t even launch an EV in Tesla’s home country, it’s definitely not threatening competition for Tesla. It is Tesla’s competition in the sense that it sells luxury-class vehicles — ICE vehicles — but this is where the true problem lies.
We need to electrify our vehicles. Legacy auto needs to electrify its vehicles. Yet it’s still pushing fossil fuel vehicles over electric vehicles, and not caring about the effects these polluting vehicles have on our environment. They know about the effects — they just don’t care. And the only way they will care is if EV sales start affecting their bank accounts in a serious way.
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