Mercedes-Benz cuts EQS and S-Class production at Sindelfingen

The German manufacturer has decided to once again cut production of its luxury EQS saloon with electric drive, as well as the S-Class with a combustion engine. According to a company representative, starting in the fourth quarter of 2024 there will be only one shift at Plant 56 in Sindelfingen, after the night shift was eliminated last year.

Plant 56 was built specifically for the production of this kind of high-end model. This facility is where Mercedes-Benz carries out what it calls the “Fullflex Marriage“, a modular process that allows combustion-engine vehicles, plug-in hybrids and battery-electric models such as the EQS to be assembled on the same production line, using a purely electric platform. The company believes that, in this way, it can better adapt to demand conditions at any given time.

However, this approach relies on the fall in sales of models with one particular type of drivetrain being offset by growth in others. That does not seem to be happening. For several months now, sales of Mercedes-Benz’s most luxurious models have shown signs of weakness. In the first half of 2024, sales fell by 22%, with a total of 137 thousand vehicles sold. This drop in sales has now led the company to rethink its production strategy.

Bad news for the plant’s employees

Mercedes-Benz has also assured that the reduction to a single shift will not affect the plant’s 1,500 permanent employees at Plant 56. Although, obviously, this decision could have negative consequences for temporary workers.

The German manufacturer announced an update to the EQS last April, introducing improvements to both the design and the technology of the vehicle. We already talked about this here on HighMotor at the time. However, none of these improvements seems to have been enough to keep demand for this luxury Mercedes-Benz model high and prevent it from falling.

The German manufacturer had hoped to sell around 50 thousand units of the EQS each year, but the reality is very different, as it is estimated that it will be hard to sell 25 thousand. The weak sales of the EQS in the Chinese market appear to be the main explanation for this gap between actual results and the expectations that had been set.