Mercedes pauses EQE and EQS production for the US

What is confirmed is that Mercedes will pause the production of four electric models for the US market at the end of August – a Mercedes-Benz USA spokesperson told InsideEVs. Dealers have been informed that order books for the saloon and SUV variants of the EQE and EQS are now closed. “Vehicles scheduled for production prior to Sept. 1 will continue to be produced. This announcement applies only [to] U.S. vehicle orders of these models,” the spokesperson said. They did not elaborate on what “temporary” means in this context.

This affects three plants. The SUV versions of the EQS and EQE are both built at the US plant in Tuscaloosa. The saloon variants are produced in Germany (EQE in Bremen and EQS in Sindelfingen) and exported to the US. Production for all other markets continues as normal; no comparable measure is known for Europe, for instance.

It remains unclear whether the decision to close orders for the electric ranges in the US is linked to the end of the EV tax credit there at the end of September. Neither the EQE nor the EQS qualified for tax credits – unless the vehicles were leased.

“As a company with global activities and more than 30 plants worldwide, including in Alabama and South Carolina, Mercedes-Benz maintains a local-for-local strategy,” the Mercedes spokesperson added. “In doing so, we continuously optimise our production network and use its high flexibility to react quickly to market conditions.” If the SUV variants are now produced in the US for Europe (and no longer for the local market), this runs counter to the local-for-local approach – Mercedes had forecast strong demand for these models in the US SUV market and allocated production accordingly.

That could be another reason behind the decision, even though the spokesperson did not specify the “market conditions” Mercedes is allegedly responding to. Mercedes’ EQ models have struggled to sell in the US from the outset – whether due to their widely criticised design, interior quality below that of the E- and S-Class, range, or relatively long charging times compared to rivals. And with the tax credit ending, experts expect a collapse in EV sales in the US from Q4 onwards – further worsening conditions for Mercedes’ already modestly demanded models, according to the InsideEVs report.

The models are still listed in the Mercedes-Benz USA configurator, but this is likely to change soon. The Hungarian-built EQB SUV (from $53,050) and the Maybach version of the EQS SUV (from $179,000) also remain listed. If the base EQS SUV is no longer built for the US, the EQS SUV Maybach is likely affected as well. There is no current statement regarding the EQB SUV.

Future electric model ranges are not expected to be affected, only the current EQE and EQS lineup. In other words, the new CLA will likely be offered in the US (as was its petrol predecessor), and the same applies to the upcoming electric GLC. Mercedes expects these models, with more conventional styling and familiar naming from their combustion predecessors, to achieve greater success than the EQ series.

insideevs.com, mbusa.com (configurator)