05/09/2018

Mercedes challenges Tesla with electric offering

Reuters reports that Mercedes has unveiled the EQC, its first fully electric car.

The automaker made revealed the vehicle in Stockholm in an attempt to challenge Tesla with an SUV with a 450 kilometre range, distinctively full-width rear light and clean-cut interiors

Daimler aims to have up to 10 electrified car variants by 2022, a target reiterated on Tuesday by Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, who hopes the EQC and its other electric cars will account for 15-25 percent of its sales by 2025.

Dieter said, 'My understanding is, when we're listening to the public and our competitors, that (our targets) are aggressive side rather than the defensive side,'he told reporters.

The German carmaker hopes to end Tesla's unchallenged reign over the electric market with a wealth of automotive manufacturing behind them, and Dieter said that Tesla would be a competitor to the Germans in the electric cars market as the company had been 'very successful in the price bracket they were addressing'.