Mercedes to underpin 'core luxury' EVs with new platform

Mercedes-Benz will launch fully electric versions of the C-Class midsize sedan and GLC SUV on the company’s new MB.EA platform starting in 2026, CEO Ola Kallenius has confirmed.

The two models sit in the “biggest segment for EVs” in terms of the premium market and will help boost Mercedes’ flagging EV sales, Kallenius told analysts on the company’s earnings call on Friday.

The MB.EA platform is now focused on what Mercedes called the “core luxury” segment including the C-Class and GLC after the company halted development of a larger version for bigger models, as reported by the German Handelsblatt newspaper in May.

The MB.EA will now run alongside the current EVA2 electric platform underpinning models such as the EQS sedan, instead of replacing it as originally envisaged.

Mercedes has not confirmed the fate of the large MB-EA electric platform. However a spokesperson told Automotive News Europe that the company's planned performance electric platform dubbed AMG-EA was still in development.

The electric C-Class and GLC are expected to be called the EQC and EQC SUV, based on Mercedes’ current naming system.

Models using MB.EA (short for Mercedes-Benz Electronic Architecture) will rival those underpinned by BMW’s Neue Klasse platform, which will predominantly be used for midsize vehicles. Neue Klasse-based cars are scheduled to arrive in 2025, starting with the new iX3 SUV.

Mercedes’ EV sales dropped 25 percent in the quarter ending June 30 compared with the same period the year before, the company said. It sold 45,843 battery-electric vehicles in the period, accounting for 9.2 percent of its total sales, compared with 12 percent in the same quarter the year before.

Sales of the company’s plug-in hybrids, however, jumped 27 percent to 44,120 in the second quarter.

Kallenius said EV sales would recover starting next year with the launch of models using the new MMA (Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture) underpinnings. MMA is for compact models and can incorporate both electric and internal combustion engine drivetrains, the latter of which will be hybridized, Mercedes said.

The company previewed the first MMA model with the full-electric Concept CLA that appeared at the 2023 Munich auto show.

Other models on the platform will include two SUVs and a station wagon.

The Concept CLA four-door coupe-like sedan was said to have more than 750 km (466 miles) of range and charge fast enough to add 400 km of range in 15 minutes.

The CLA will signal the start of a significant increase in EV sales for Mercedes, analysts were promised.

“In terms of powertrain mix, there will be no change in the second half of the year compared to H1. The fundamental change is going to come with the products in 2025, 2026 with MMA and then the electric C-Class and GLC,” Mercedes CFO Harald Wilhelm said on the earnings call.

Kallenius warned the company might have to pool with other manufacturers next year if the expected jump in BEV sales in Europe didn’t come fast enough.

“For 2025, we need to take a step up in Europe. Should it not be enough, then you would have to look at pooling solutions,” he said.

Mercedes has previously walked back its target to launch only full-electric cars starting in 2030.

“We have to realize that the speed of adoption, the speed of the transformation, it's almost impossible to foresee how long it will take,” Kallenius said on the Q2 call. “We are one the few companies that are well positioned to play the flexibility card into the 2030s.”

Mercedes has previously said MB.EA models would be built at its plants in Kecskemet, Hungary, and in Bremen, Germany.