2023 Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV is the eco full-size household hauler

Mercedes-Benz on Tuesday unveiled the newest addition to its rising household of EQ electrical automobiles within the type of the 2023 EQS SUV.

Because the title suggests, the EQS SUV is a high-riding counterpart to the 2022 EQS hatchback, with each automobiles based mostly on the identical EVA devoted EV platform. The mid-size 2023 EQE sedan can also be based mostly on the EVA platform, and it too will spawn its personal EQE SUV counterpart shortly.

The EQS SUV is due later this yr, in EQS 450+ and EQS 580 4Matic grades. The EQS 450+ will include a single motor on the rear, rated at 355 hp and 419 lb-ft of torque. The EQS 580 4Matic may have a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system good for 536 hp and 633 lb-ft. Acceleration and prime pace figures have not been introduced.

We additionally haven’t got en EPA vary estimate, although the usual 107.8-kilowatt-hour battery must be good for greater than 300 miles on a cost within the EQS SUV’s most effective configuration. Charging the battery at a charge of 110 kilowatts can ship a 10-80% cost in 31 minutes, in line with Mercedes.

The EQS SUV suits into the full-size class. At 202 inches in size, the car is barely shorter than the EQS hatchback, although the 2 share a 126.4-inch wheelbase. The EQS SUV, which is 7.8 inches increased than the EQS, has the benefit of getting an accessible third row. The usual wheels are a 20-inch set.

The styling, inside and outside, clearly follows the trail of the EQS hatchback. The design is softer than what’s discovered on the internal-combustion GLS-Class, serving to to create a brand new character for a full-size Mercedes SUV. That is additionally mirrored within the driving expertise, which I am going to get to later.

Inside, there’s an intense battle between between luxurious and know-how. The EQS SUV appears poised to relegate different electrical SUVs to teach class: The Benz not solely has the gizmoriffic 56-inch Hyperscreen system of digital shows, it additionally has accessible Dolby Atmos sound, a HEPA cabin-air filter, even its personal distinct scent for its perfume dispenser, an earthy concoction dubbed No. 6 MOOD mimosa.

It does that each one with the flexibility to hold as much as seven passengers and as much as 4 units of golf golf equipment, in line with Mercedes, surrounded by metallic-ringed spherical air vents, wood-paneled console and doorways, and artificial leather-based or true leather-based upholstery, to not point out the reside streaming leisure accessible through a number of screens, together with the principle infotainment hub. The streaming is a permitted characteristic because of a driver-side digital camera that shuts off the show at any time when the motive force’s eyes veer to observe it.

With all of this on provide, the EQS SUV is prone to outshine the GLS-Class in most consumers’ eyes. Why? It’s easy: the facility of batteries is best suited to the whole vary of SUV driving. EVs make for the last word drift machines due to the copious controllable energy, as we’ve witnessed in Porsche Taycans and Ford Mustang Mach-Es alike; on the different finish of their operational spectrum, very high quality and exact energy management additionally makes EVs excellent off-road machines.

I have never pushed the EQS SUV simply but, however I used to be given a trip in a prototype earlier this yr. The EQS SUV teased at its potential as my Mercedes pilot José picked his manner between pines, ascended gravel paths, and forded a small stream as we cruised a primary off-road path setup within the woods south of Mercedes’ plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the place the EQS SUV is constructed. I say cruise as a result of the EQS SUV appeared primarily unflustered. It’s raised in an off-road mode, however its adaptive suspension and particularly, its 10-degree rear-steer know-how, made threading between the bushes an anxiety-free journey. That latter expertise will give the EQS SUV nice parking-lot maneuverability, too. It additionally moved so silently the twigs snapping below its wheels made extra noise than its hard-working motors.

The well-damped trip and tight turning circle are essential to its luxurious mission as a result of, with an electrical G-Class coming for hardcore off-road purchasers round 2024, the EQS SUV will cater to the softer facet of the model’s repute. Whereas I used to be chauffeured by some Alabama woods I most likely hiked after I labored at this very plant in 1996, the EQS SUV completely smothered a raft of six-inch logs lashed collectively as a makeshift bridge. Regardless that it had home-court benefit, it nonetheless factors towards a serene driving expertise on any floor.

Cushioned from no matter floor it rolls on by air springs, padded over with close-grained leather-based, glossed to a excessive polish with sq. ft of digital shows, the EQS SUV isn’t achieved but—not with a possible Maybach version already within the playing cards, if concept-car desires play out in actuality. That Maybach EQS SUV idea supplied up two regal rear seats, 24-inch wheels, two-tone paint, power-extending door handles, white and blue leather-based, and sufficient chrome to resuscitate the Pontiac model nearly single-handedly.

If our first ride-along indicated something, it’s that the ahead propulsion right here isn’t simply part of the EQS SUV drivetrain—it’s turning into embedded within the bona fides of the Mercedes model itself.

The EQS SUV will arrive at dealerships in late 2022. Pricing data might be introduced nearer to the on-sale date, however as a information, the associated 2022 EQS hatchback begins from $103,360, together with a $1,050 vacation spot cost.