When you think of the Mercedes-Benz brand you might picture the superb luxury of the S-Class large sedan, the imposing size, and power of the G-Class SUV, or the sporty drive of the AMG GT. What you typically don’t think of is a hybrid powertrain, but this brand is working toward the same goals as the rest of the market; more hybrid and EV models that will be the future of driving on the road. With that in mind, it appears Mercedes-Benz might have slipped up when they showed off photos of a new model.
There were some official photos offered a month ago that showed us a new model that will show up on the market in the near future. This new model is the tiny A-Class which will sit at the lowest end of the market for Mercedes-Benz. This car will certainly still show up with the luxury qualities we expect to see when it arrives on the market, but it is expected to an affordable small car that comes from this brand and it might be the testing platform for a new area of the market for the Mercedes-Benz team.
What did we see with the Mercedes?
When the photos were shown of the new A-Class, there was something interesting that showed up in the look of the instrument cluster. This photo might not have been reviewed as well as it should have and the picture gave us the idea that there would be a battery pack included with this car. The photo showed us a vehicle that had a battery range that had been depleted by a percentage that allowed the math to tell us that this new car might have as much as 31 miles of EV driving when it arrives on the market.
Since this discovery, the photo of the instrument cluster has been replaced by one that now shows a temperature gauge where the range meter was once situated. While the team at Mercedes-Benz may not want us to think about hybrid or EV driving with this car just yet, it makes sense for this car to be where the new EQ sub-brand can begin. With this small model, the beginning of what could be expected from a hybrid or plug-in model would be tested and fit in easily with this little car as it comes to the market in the near future.
Mercedes-Benz has made it obvious they are taking electrification seriously, but they might be heading in a direction different from most of the other brands on the market. The new CLS showed up at the LA Auto Show with a 48-volt electric starter/generator to give the engine performance boosts in bursts, but that’s not a sustained hybrid system. When we see the new A-Class at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show next year, it could be the unveiling of the new EQ sub-brand from Mercedes-Benz and give us something we need to see and enjoy when it’s time for the drive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfRJaq8WMhc
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