Mercedes is considering a simplification of its model names. As a result, from 2024, the EQ name could disappear.
German newspaper Handelsblatt reports that Mercedes may drop the EQ moniker for electric models starting in 2024. But a final decision has yet to be made. By dropping the EQ suffix, Mercedes will remove confusion from its model names. And in a few years, the EQ name will become completely meaningless as Mercedes plans to electrify its entire model portfolio.
According to Handelsblatt, Mercedes plans to return to the classic names. In this way, the luxury manufacturer from Stuttgart wants to avoid making the mistake of those from VW who realized quite late that it is not a good solution to give up names such as Golf or Tiguan in the medium term.
Thus, in the long term, the EQE will become the E-Class and the EQS the S-Class. The EQC could be called the GLC.
Mercedes introduced the name EQ in 2019, and it stands for Electric Intelligence. But Mercedes needed to be more consistent in naming its models. For example, the EQA is not the electric A-Class but the electric equivalent of the GLA. Also, the EQB is not an electric derivative of the B-Class but an electric GLB.
In the luxury class, things are even more complicated. Mercedes has dubbed the EQS the electric equivalent of the S-Class luxury sedan and the GLS. However, instead of calling the electric equivalent of the GLS, EQ GLS, Mercedes named it EQS SUV, but the SUV designation does not appear in the version names, only EQS followed by the engine type. The same situation is with the EQE SUV, the electric equivalent of the GLE.
The return to the traditional names could occur in 2024 when Mercedes launch the new compact models built on the MMA platform.
