Mercedes-Benz customers in Australia keen for the EQE and EQS 450 electric sedans will need to wait a bit longer than expected.
The duo will touch down locally early in 2023, a Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesperson has confirmed, rather than late in 2022 as initially planned.
“We were hoping for some other cars to drop this year, and they’re not going to make it in time,” the spokesperson said.
“EQE, EQS 450, and we were hoping for C43 as well. They’re going to dip into the first half of [2023].”
The EQE was initially slated to touch down in the second half of 2022. Our models will be sourced from a soon-to-be climate neutral factory in Bremen, Germany, and Australian buyers will have access to the EQE 350 and AMG EQE 53.
The former packs a 90kWh lithium-ion battery and a rear-mounted motor with 215kW of power and 565Nm of torque, and up to 660km of range on the WLTP test cycle.
Armed with up to 505kW of power and 1000Nm of torque, the EQE 53 is putting out numbers well beyond what you’d associate with AMG 63 models. Its lithium-ion battery pack is good for up to 518km of driving on the WLTP test cycle.
The EQS 450 is bigger again than the EQE, and packs a rear-mounted motor making 245kW of power and 568Nm of torque. The 107.8kWh lithium-ion battery pack is good for a claimed range of 780km on the WLTP test cycle.
It will join the existing Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 which offers 484kW and 950Nm, and a 580km range from the same battery.
When they arrive, the EQE and less powerful EQS will join the EQA, EQB, and EQC SUVs in the growing Mercedes-Benz electric range locally. The EQE SUV and EQS SUV are also bound for Australia.
A spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz told CarExpert demand for electric vehicles is still outstripping supply Down Under, led by the EQA.
“All of our EQA and B stock is very similar, in the way that everything that lands will move quite quickly,” the spokesperson said.
“Though we are keen for more stock, there are other markets over the world who consistently, over the years, maybe sell more EVs – but we are fighting that battle to see if we can get more,” they said.