Mercedes opens reservations for its first electric SUV two years before production

Mercedes-Benz will try to get fully into the electric car market with its upcoming EQ range. This family of electric vehicles will be responsible for competing for a slice of the pie that some of its rival premium brands, BMW and Tesla, are already enjoying.

The first of the vehicles to go on sale under the EQ name will be an SUV that will arrive on the market in 2019, and it can already be pre-ordered in Norway. The German brand’s SUV, known until now as the Mercedes Generation EQ, can already be reserved in the Nordic country with a deposit of 20,019 Norwegian kroner, around 2,000 euros.

The fact that Mercedes has opened reservations for this electric SUV two years in advance is nothing new. Not long ago, Tesla used this same strategy with its Model 3, a vehicle that received more than half a million reservations before production began.

Audi also opened a reservation programme last April for its e-tron, its first 100% electric SUV, also in Norway. Comparisons are odious, but it does not seem likely that the reservation process of either German brand will match, or even come close to, the demand Tesla achieved with the Model 3.

For now, we do not know much about the final design of the Mercedes EQ SUV. Recently, the company presented the latest concept of the model with two electric motors producing 300 kW (about 400 CV). This propulsion system allows the SUV to reach 100 km/h in under five seconds.

The prototype’s battery offered 60 kWh, which according to the NEDC cycle guarantees a range of 500 kilometres. We will see whether the production version maintains these performance figures or even improves them.