Mercedes-Benz says its first electric EQC SUV is already sold out for the year

Mercedes-Benz says its first next-generation all-electric vehicle, the EQC electric SUV, is already sold out for this year and “probably” even next year, but it doesn’t confirm the actual production capacity.

Dieter Zetsche, Daimler’s outgoing CEO, made the comments when talking about the German automaker’s 2018 results (via Welt):

“We are sure that we will not be able to meet the demand in 2019 and probably not by 2020. But we do everything we can to achieve the maximum capacity.” 

The company started taking pre-orders for the vehicle in many markets last year.

Daimler has stayed vague about when the EQC will enter production and the latest information indicate that it will be in mid-2019.

Now it sounds like they already have enough orders for the first year of production, but they haven’t confirmed that actual production capacity of the EQC SUV.

As for the vehicle itself, Mercedes-Benz is talking about a 450km (280 miles) journey, but the company was still using the NEDC standard when it made the announcement.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the real-world range is much closer to around 200 miles on a single charge.

The battery pack will be powered by 2 asynchronous motors with a total capacity of 300 kW (408 hp). It can achieve a top speed of 180 km/h (111 mph) and an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.1 seconds.

According to the spec sheet, the EQC is equipped with a water-cooled onboard charger with a capacity of 7.4 kW and has a maximum capacity of up to 110 kW at an appropriate charging station.“

The German automaker has yet to confirm the price, but it is expected to start at around $70,000.

Electrek’s Take

It is encouraging, but it’s hard to be impressed without some actual production volume targets.

My understanding is that Mercedes-Benz is making the EQC a volume vehicle program and not simply a compliance car, but it’s unclear how many units we are talking about in this case.

Honestly, I’d like to see them makes hundreds of thousands per year like their other SUVs, but I’d more realistically be happy with a production target between 50,000 and 100,000 units per year.

I think that’s doable, but I have a feeling Daimler is being more conservative.