Mercedes-Benz pauses development of the MB.EA-Large platform for electric saloons and SUVs

The restructuring of the German manufacturer’s commercial strategy for the coming years is still having knock-on effects. According to reports in the German media, the company has put the brakes on development of the MB.EA-Large platform for large electric vehicles. Mercedes-Benz intended the new generation of large saloons and SUVs due to arrive from 2028 onwards to be fully electric and based on this platform. That now appears not to be the case, or at least not as soon as planned.

The disappointing sales figures for the manufacturer’s luxury electric range appear to be the reason for this decision. The company has therefore been forced to halt the enormous investment it was making in developing this platform. Mercedes-Benz’s new strategy now centres on being far more flexible and adapting to demand at any given moment. The company wants to offer each customer the vehicle they ask for, whether fully electric, hybrid or with a combustion engine.

In mid-2021, the company announced that it would launch three new fully electric platforms from 2025. The MB.EA platform was to be used for all medium and large electric vehicles from the star brand. Likewise, the AMG.EA platform was announced as a derivative of the first, for vehicles with higher performance on the track. Meanwhile, the VAN.EA platform was to be aimed at fully electric vans and light commercial vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz rethinks its future

There would also be two different versions of the MB.EA platform. On the one hand the MB.EA-Medium for the C-Class and GLC, and on the other the MB.EA-Large for the electric models of the S-Class, E-Class and GLE. Development of this latter version is the one German media claim has been halted. As a result, everything suggests that Mercedes-Benz will continue using the EVA2 platform for its large luxury models. This is the platform used by the EQE and EQS currently on sale, in both saloon and SUV variants, with the major limitation that it only supports 400V architectures.

Some media suggest, however, that Mercedes-Benz could make some modifications to the EVA2 platform so that it can support 800V architectures, but for now this is nothing more than a rumour. What is certain is that if this does not happen and Mercedes-Benz does not resume development of the MB.EA-Large platform either, the company will find it very difficult to compete in the electric market at the end of this decade while keeping 400V architectures in its high-end vehicles.