Mercedes-Benz says its profit margin for the new full-electric EQE large sedan is equal to those of the E-Class, the model's internal-combustion engine equivalent.
EQE sales started in Europe in the second quarter. The model has a base price of about 70,000 euros (about $71,000), while the E Class starts at about 50,000 euros for a base diesel sedan, although AMG performance variants can top 100,000 euros.
"It's more or less the first quarter of EQE sales, but at this point the EQE margin is at the point of the E-Class margin," Mercedes CFO Harald Wilhelm said Wednesday on the automaker's first-half results call, adding that the EQE might even be slightly ahead of the E-Class right now.
Automakers are struggling to close the profit and cost gap between full-electric and internal-combustion cars ahead of expected EU regulations that will effectively ban sales of gasoline and diesel models after 2035.
Wilhelm said the model above the EQE, the EQS, still lagged its internal-combustion equivalent, the S-Class, on margin. "We saw that the EQS margin is starting to become healthy," he said. "Maybe it's not exactly on S-Class level but it's not too far from it."