Mercedes-Benz’s first electric SUV could be facing the axe.
The Mercedes-Benz EQC, an electric SUV derived from the outgoing GLC, could be discontinued next year per a report from Business Insider cited by CarBuzz.
The German publication reports it’s sighted a letter sent from Mercedes-Benz to its sales partners that EQC production will end on May 3, 2023.
The EQC has been a fairly slow seller, with only 3825 sold in its home market of Germany last year – the car’s best year thus far. It was also outsold across Europe last year by the larger Audi e-tron.
It’s also not offered in the USA, one of Mercedes-Benz’s largest markets. The American division ruled out importing the EQC early last year, though a report from Automotive News later in 2021 said it would come “around 2025”.
Mercedes-Benz has yet to confirm a second-generation EQC, but a direct replacement is all but certain as electric SUVs proliferate throughout its line-up and those of rival luxury brands.
With production reportedly ending in 2023 and its new medium-to-large MB.EA electric vehicle platform not due until 2025, it’s unclear what platform would underpin a next-generation EQC.
EQA 
EQB 
EQS SUV
The German luxury brands have been employing different strategies in their rollout of electric vehicles.
The EQC and Audi e-tron, which are part of the old guard having entered production in 2019 and 2018, respectively, use internal combustion engine platforms. However, they feature almost entirely different exteriors to their related combustion-powered SUVs.
The Mercedes-Benz EQA and EQB, like the BMW iX3, use ICE platforms and differ visually from their ICE counterparts only in details like grilles and bumpers.
Finally, Mercedes-Benz has revealed a flagship EQS SUV and confirmed a smaller EQE SUV which use the dedicated Electric Vehicle Architecture of the EQE sedan and EQS liftback.
Despite being just shy of four years old, the EQC is already the oldest member of Mercedes-Benz’s electric family and will soon find itself bookended by a range of fresher electric SUVs.
Mercedes-Benz has sold 760 examples of the EQC in Australia since sales began late in 2019.
It sold 298 last year, outpacing the Audi e-tron (108) and Jaguar I-Pace (44).
