Mercedes-Benz said today it will make its first electric car in the new EQ brand at the Bremen plant by the end of this decade. The production model will be based on the EQ show car – an electric SUV Coupe that debuted at Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris last September. With a range of up to 500 kilometers, the show car is claimed by Mercedes as the “forerunner of a new era,” one that started years ago at competing automakers, of course. The brand EQ is part of a corporate strategy for future mobility placed under CASE. The four letters stand for Connected, Autonomous, Shared & Services and Electric Drive.
“Emission-free automobiles are the future. I am pleased that for the series production of our first electric EQ model, we can count on one of our most important partners in the global production network: our colleagues from Bremen,” said Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
Mercedes-Benz Cars aims to have more than ten all-electric vehicles in its portfolio by 2025. The new electric vehicles can be built within the existing global production network with sites on four continents.
“In our production, we work intensely on the execution of our electric offensive. In this context, we assess the potential production of electric vehicles at all sites of Mercedes-Benz Cars. We have already started intensive preparations in Bremen,” said Markus Schäfer, Member of the Divisional Board of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain Management.
Production at the Bremen plant currently consists of ten different models. Next to vehicles with conventional combustion engines, plug-in hybrids of the C-Class and the GLC are also rolling off the production line. In addition, the GLC F-CELL will be produced in Bremen. With the confirmation of the new Electro-SUV of the EQ brand, cars made in Bremen “are expected to include the entire range of intelligent drive technologies in the future.’
The battery for the new electric vehicle will be developed by the Daimler subsidiary ACCUMOTIVE and produced in Kamenz (Saxony). The production is currently being updated with an investment of €500 million. Mercedes claims this will be one of the largest and most modern battery factories in Europe. ACCUMOTIVE will produce lithium-ion batteries for all electrified vehicles of Mercedes-Benz and Smart – including plug-in hybrids as well as dedicated electric vehicles. The site will also produce batteries for stationary Mercedes-Benz energy storage units as well as 48-volt-systems. Daimler plans an overall investment of more than €1 billion in a global battery production compound.
About the Mercedes-Benz plant in Bremen
The Mercedes-Benz plant in Bremen is the biggest private employer in the region with more than 12,500 employees. Ten different models are being assembled now: Saloon, Estate, Coupé and Cabriolet of the C-Class, the Coupé and Cabriolet of the E-Class, the SUVs GLC and GLC Coupé as well as the two Roadsters SLC and SL. In 2015, the plant was rewarded as “Factory of the Year” in the category large-scale production. As lead plant of the C-Class, Bremen directs the worldwide production of the highest-volume model series in the plants abroad in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Beijing, China and East London in South Africa. The assembly of the new GLC is also directed by Bremen as the main production site.
