This is good news for the OEM as it ramps up plug-in model production.
Mercedes-Benz only just started selling the EQE electric sedan and it’s already saying it’s at least as profitable, if not more than the current E-Class. This was announced by company CFO Harald Wilhelm who also noted that the same doesn’t yet apply for the larger EQS model, the electric equivalent of the S-Class.
During a recent Mercedes earnings call, Harald Wilhelm stated that
It’s more or less the first quarter of EQE sales, but at this point the EQE margin is at the point of the E-Class margin.
Regarding the EQS, he notes that
We saw that the EQS margin is starting to become healthy. Maybe it’s not exactly on S-Class level but it’s not too far from it.
Gallery: 2023 Mercedes-AMG EQE: First Drive Review
62 Photos
The Mercedes official was keen to make this point about the EQE’s profitability simply because it’s not all that common for an automaker to make as big a profit off selling an EV compared to a traditional ICE vehicle. In fact, some automakers are selling electric vehicles at a loss or are barely able to break even.
And since SUVs often give automaker an even better profit margin over a comparable sedan, we can expect similar statements from the manufacturer once it launches the high-riding versions of the EQE and EQS (pictured below); the latter is even getting a special Maybach version that was previewed by a concept shown in 2021.
Gallery: Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV Concept
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What Harald Wilhelm doesn’t mention, though, is that the EQE and E-Class, while similar in size and name, don’t address the same buyers and for the time being the ICE vehicle will be vastly more popular than the EV. You can buy an E-Class today in Germany from under €50,000 while the EQE starts at €70,627 for the base EQE 350+ variant; the hotter EQE 43 AMG version is over €100,000.
Last summer Mercedes announced it was investing $47-billion by the end of the decade in order to develop an entire line of electric vehicles. The manufacturer expects electrified vehicles of some sort to constitute about half its sales volume by 2025, sooner than initially predicted.
Building its own battery plants is also another important step being taken by Mercedes to ensure its continued existence into the electric era. It plans to build four plats in Europe and one in the United States (where it plans to build its electric SUVs).