Mercedes-Benz confirms EQA and EQB EVs, new platform for small EVs

Mercedes-Benz will back its promised range of large electric cars with two small EVs next year, and a new platform in 2025.

Mercedes-Benz will begin production of its GLA-based EQA this year, which will be followed shortly after by the GLB-based EQB.

While these models – like the EQC and EQV – are related closely to their internal-combustion engine counterparts, Mercedes is working on a second new electric vehicle platform.

Slotting underneath the new Electric Vehicle Architecture (EVA), the Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture (MMA) is designed for small and medium-sized cars.

Announced as part of this week’s strategy meeting, the first and as-yet unspecified MMA vehicles will be introduced in 2025.

The smallest vehicle on EVA is the EQE sedan (above), which is reportedly slightly smaller than an E-Class externally.

Just how many Mercedes vehicles will use MMA isn’t yet known, but introduction of both MMA and EVA could allow Mercedes to consolidate future electric vehicles on just two platforms.

By doing so, it’ll allow future Mercedes EVs to maximise the packaging efficiencies afforded by an EV platform, making them potentially more spacious inside than battery-powered vehicles based on internal-combustion platforms.

In the meantime, Mercedes will offer EVs across a range of platforms including the upcoming EQA and EQB, based on the MFA2 platform.

The EQA was originally set for a European launch this year but was hit by delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mercedes has also shuffled production locations, with the EQA now set to be produced alongside the EQB at its Rastatt factory in Germany.

One of these two vehicles was originally set to be produced at the Smart factory in Hambach, France, until Daimler entered into talks with off-roader start-up Ineos to sell the factory.

A report from Autocar indicates the EQA will offer either a single electric motor and front-wheel drive or a dual-motor all-wheel drive set-up, with an AMG-fettled model a possibility.

An AMG EQA could offer performance approaching that of the petrol-powered GLA45 S.

Spy photos show the EQA looks much like the GLA upon which it’s based, with external changes limited to items like a new grille, bumpers and a full-width tail light assembly.