Mercedes pivots, will use EQS to begin US EV onslaught

Late last year,  announced it would delay introducing its EQC electric crossover in the US until 2021. Now it appears the automaker has further shifted its strategy to introduce its EQ sub-brand to the States.

The first Mercedes EQ vehicle to launch in the US will be the EQS large electric sedan, Automotive News reports. "We said that for positioning the EQ brand in the US, start from the top and then go from there," Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius told AN. According to the report, it will launch in the coming summer. Mercedes-Benz didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Originally, the EQC crossover was slated to be the US' first new electric Mercedes. We took our first drive in this GLC-sized SUV in mid-2019, and at that time, it was expected to launch in the US in early 2020. Plans changed that December, however, when Mercedes said it was delaying the EQC's US debut until 2021 due to growing demand in Europe.

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The Mercedes EQS will be built in Germany, and it'll run on a new platform dedicated to electric vehicles, unlike the EQC, which is based on a modified internal-combustion platform. It's believed that the EQS will have a battery capable of more than 430 miles per charge, according to the European WLTP testing standard. The EPA obviously hasn't evaluated the car yet, and Mercedes has remained mum about most of the car's specs -- heck, nobody even knows what it looks like yet, as every iteration shown to the public thus far has been covered in thick vehicle camouflage.

Earlier this month, Mercedes rolled out a large teaser campaign for its upcoming EQ sub-brand. In addition to further previewing the EQS sedan, the automaker also showed off early (and also camouflaged) versions of the EQE sedan, which will act as an electric analogue to the , and the EQS SUV. In all, Mercedes-Benz hopes to launch five new electric cars through 2022, so the public should be learning much more about these EVs in the months to come.