Mercedes-Benz’s upcoming flagship electric SUV will offer the high-tech glitz of the EQE and EQS passenger cars’ cabins but an extra row of seating.
The company has given us our first look at the interior of the electric EQS SUV ahead of its global reveal on April 19, 2022.
Offering up to seven seats, the EQS SUV has an interior that’s extremely similar to the flagship Mercedes-Benz EQS liftback, as well as the EQE sedan.
That includes the optional MBUX Hyperscreen, a curved-glass screen that spans from A-pillar to A-pillar.
Measuring over 141cm wide, it features a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, 17.7-inch central touchscreen, and a 12.3-inch passenger touchscreen.
The MBUX Hyperscreen is surrounded by a ring of LED ambient lighting and incorporates air-conditioning vents above it and a “seemingly free-floating centre console below”.
Also available as an option, the EQS SUV interior shown in the press imagery has dual 11.6-inch displays on the backrests of the front seats, as well as an electrically-adjustable second row of seating with a folding second-row centre armrest containing a MBUX rear tablet and a wireless phone charger.
It’s unclear what amenities the passengers in the two third-row seats will get at this stage, but we don’t see any plush headrest cushions like those on most of the other seats.
Alongside the official interior imagery of the EQS SUV, Mercedes-Benz showed off a number of different camouflaged test EQS SUV prototypes shot around the world. We’ve previously spied a number of these prototypes.
The German automaker has confirmed the EQS and EQE SUVs will be built at the automaker’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant alongside the GLS and GLE, and use batteries produced at a “state-of-the-art factory in Bibb County”.
Mercedes-Benz says this North American battery plant will be one of eight worldwide that’ll boost annual battery production capacity to an expected 200 Gigawatt hours by 2030.
This ramp-up of battery production follows Mercedes-Benz’s announcement that it’ll go all-electric by 2030, wherever market conditions allow.
A previous report indicated the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV range will use a 108kWh lithium-ion battery pack and dual-motor all-wheel drive, with a range-topping EQS 580 SUV, like the EQS 580 liftback, producing 385kW of power and 855Nm of torque.
The EQS SUV will also reportedly measure 5160mm long. For context, the Mercedes-Benz GLS is 5219mm long.
Mercedes-AMG versions of the EQS and EQE SUVs are likely, plus a Mercedes-Maybach version of the EQS SUV that could wear the EQS 600 SUV nameplate.
The EQS SUV was previously previewed in Mercedes-Maybach concept form at the 2021 Munich motor show with a claimed range of 600km.
The Mercedes-Benz EQS and EQE SUVs will be built on the German automaker’s dedicated Electric Vehicle Architecture (EVA), shared with the EQS liftback and the EQE sedan, which uses a 400V electrical architecture.
Mercedes-Benz says it’s working on an 800V electrical architecture for its future electric vehicles (EVs).
EVA-based cars support DC fast charging up to 170kW, as well as single- and three-phase AC charging up to 22kW.
Mercedes-Benz already offers three electric SUVs, two of which are currently sold here: the EQA, EQB and EQC, based on the internal combustion-powered GLA, GLB and GLC, respectively.
An electric G-Class was also previewed in September 2021 with the EQG concept.
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MORE: Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV and EQS SUV debuting this year – report
