Mercedes Electric SUV is Coming for the Model X

The day after Mercedes dropped the mike, Tesla’s stock slipped 4 percent.

Mercedes-Benz hasn’t traditionally been seen as an electric vehicle powerhouse, especially considering – earlier this year – the luxury automaker announced it would be eliminating the B250e electric from its lineup because, well, nobody wanted it… unless selling ~3,600 units over a five-year period was part of the plan.

Or maybe it was because Mercedes was just clearing the way to BRING IT on EVs, which makes sense now that they’ve announced this week a line of electrics called the Mercedes EQ series.

According to Daimler AG’s CEO Dieter Zetsche, the brand had initially planned to spend about $11.5 billion on the EQ line but has since decided to invest even more. The first vehicle is an all-wheel-drive crossover SUV – the EQC 400 4Matic – that Mercedes can now put up against luxury offerings from Jaguar, Audi, Porsche, BMW and – of course – Tesla.

The Benz offers an 80-kwh battery and a range of about 279 miles per charge, and can get to 80 percent of charge on just forty minutes on a 110-kW outlet. The speed of this 402 horsepower vehicle maxes out at 112 mph, and it can reach 60 in 4.9 seconds.

The interior offers all the luxury trappings of your typical Mercedes – sun roof, heated seats, regenerative braking and surfboard-style screens – but adds rose gold accents, a style trend that will have assuredly fallen out of favor by the time this launches in 2020. Daimler says Mercedes should have its full line of 10 all-electric cars available by 2022

The day after Mercedes dropped the EQ mike earlier this week, Tesla’s stock slipped 4 percent, to the lowest level since June 1. For perspective, that’s even lower than when Elon Musk attacked a man on Twitter who had helped save a group of children who were trapped in a cave in Thailand. So for all the competition bubbling up around Tesla, they might be taking the Mercedes EQC 400 seriously.

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