Mercedes-Benz is rethinking its method to new applied sciences. The corporate has broadly introduced one main technique change and quietly hinted at one other that would reshape what Benz loyalists anticipate from their model of alternative.
Dropping Two-Lineup Method, EQ Names
The louder change got here in a latest presentation to traders. “Going ahead, a coherent design language might be used throughout the complete portfolio,” the corporate introduced.
Beneath a technique introduced in 2021, Mercedes break up its lineup in two. It provided one electrical and one gas-powered car in most market segments, with the electrical model utilizing an “EQ” naming scheme.
Customers might select from a gas-powered E-Class or an all-electric EQE, as an illustration. The 2 had been comparable in measurement and have content material however regarded completely completely different.
Mercedes’ electrical autos (EVs) took on a curvier look, each to set them aside and to offer them higher aerodynamics, which improves EV vary. However critics derided the “jelly bean” look. We might by no means shake the impression that an EQE regarded like an overinflated E-Class you might pop with a pin. The brand new naming scheme robbed EVs of among the status related to the model’s historic nameplates.
Now, Mercedes says, the excellence will go away.
Mercedes introduced plans to drop the EQ naming scheme final 12 months. Now, executives clarified, the EQ designs will go away with the EQ names.
As an alternative, consumers will have the ability to select gas- or electric-powered drivetrains with an identical physique kinds. That may enable “a constant buyer expertise in addition to best-in-class roominess and excellent proportions whereas retaining a decent grip on prices and manufacturing flexibility.” It’ll additionally let EV consumers purchase the E-Class they all the time wished.
Electrical fashions will as a substitute have the phrase “with EQ Expertise” appended to the top of their names. An E-Class might be a gas-powered automotive, and an E-Class with EQ Expertise might be an EV.
“Screens Are Not Luxurious”
The second change was not included in any press launch. Nevertheless, it represents a philosophical shift amongst Mercedes designers and will reshape the way in which a Mercedes feels in the long term.
Each automaker has one lead designer — a visionary who controls how its designers work and the ethos of the merchandise they create. For Mercedes, it’s Chief Design Officer Gorden Wagener.
Wagener gave an interview to ABC Information this week by which he confirmed a change of coronary heart about inside design.
“Screens usually are not luxurious,” Wagener stated. “We’ve to create luxurious past the display screen. That’s why I discuss craftsmanship and class.”
That is surprising in case you’re a longtime Mercedes loyalist. In recent times, Mercedes has leaned into the concept screens are luxurious greater than maybe another automaker. In 2025, its signature characteristic is the “Hyperscreen,” a display screen that takes the place of the complete dashboard in its highest-end vehicles.
The Hyperscreen and the associated, barely scaled-down Superscreen aren’t truly one huge display screen. They’re three separate screens: one for the motive force, one for the passenger, and one within the heart. The house between them is just glass, not conscious of the contact. However even that tumbler is significant. Different manufacturers provide you with three screens. Mercedes does that however desires you to suppose you may have one cabin-spanning display screen as if the epitome of luxurious is a automotive that’s all display screen.
For the corporate that constructed it, concluding that it isn’t notably luxurious is a real philosophical change.
Don’t anticipate huge screens to vanish completely from Mercedes merchandise. Wagener instructed ABC Information, “From the {hardware} facet, it’s superb. From the software program facet, it hasn’t been that good.” To enhance the expertise, he says, “We’re engaged on content material that’s extra particular and extra entertaining.”
Nevertheless, Mercedes was as soon as a model identified for its deal with old-world luxurious and craftsmanship. It could return to its roots because it realizes that a number of screens, now obtainable on even mainstream vehicles, usually are not the way in which to convey a luxurious really feel.
The following technology of Mercedes designs will possible attempt to one-up rivals on high quality, not amount of glass.
