Mercedes unveils electric car in direct German challenge to Tesla
Mercedes unveils electric car in direct German challenge
to Tesla
By Esha Vaish SEPTEMBER 4, 2018 / 10:05 AM
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Mercedes showed on Tuesday how it
is “aggressively” gunning for top spot in upscale battery cars market currently
dominated by Tesla, as it unveiled the EQC, its first fully electric car, at an
event in Stockholm.
The event marks the start of the German onslaught against
the American upstart and showcased a SUV with a 450 kilometer range,
distinctively full-width rear light and clean-cut interiors that Mercedes hopes
will find favor with luxury customers and tech-savvy millennials alike.
Daimler aims to have up to 10 electrified car variants by
2022, a target reiterated on Tuesday by Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, who hopes
the EQC and its other electric cars will account for 15-25 percent of its sales
by 2025.
The Germans are now introducing their Tesla fighters as
consumers are beginning to adopt electric cars on a larger scale, driven by
regulations that are making their diesel-guzzling variants more expensive and
electric cars becoming cheaper and easier to own.
Fielding questions about whether the company could launch
more variants as the electric market explodes, Zetsche said that the planned 10
electric variants would already allow Daimler to cater to 60 percent its
relevant electric cars market.
“My understanding is, when we’re listening to the public
and our competitors, that (our targets) are aggressive side rather than the
defensive side,” he told reporters.
Tesla has had virtually no competition up to now, which
has allowed it to easily become the frontrunner and persuade early adopters to
pay a premium for an all-electric car from a relative unknown, with no quality
track-record or physical dealerships for servicing and support.
But the German carmakers have a century of manufacturing
behind them, with sterling brands and an existing customer base in the millions
and their new variants are about to hit the market as Tesla faces questions
about its ability to generate cash and manage the scaling of its production.
Zetsche said on Tuesday that Tesla would be a competitor
to the Germans in the electric cars market as the company had been “very
successful in the price bracket they were addressing”.
He said that he did not consider any of Tesla’s three
current models as a direct competitor to the EQC, which was Mercedes’ first
launch as SUVs have found favor with customers in recent years, with their
growth outpacing other car types.
He declined to say what the initial production volumes on
the EQC would be, however, he stated that the ramp up of production would be
relatively flat.
Reporting by Esha Vaish in Stockholm and Laurence Frost
in Paris. Editing by Jane Merriman
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