German auto manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is taking an early leap forward to strengthen its luxury electric vehicle portfolio by revealing its flagship 7-seater SUV, Mercedes-Benz EQS. The EQS SUV is built on the dedicated EVA2 platform that also houses the EQS sedan. The car will be manufactured at the Tuscaloosa plant in the US, which is expected to arrive at our shores later this year. Here's a sneak peek into the flagship EQS SUV.
Exterior
The EQS SUV's design traits resemble its EQS sedan. On the front, it gets all gloss back grille with headlamp assembly connected via a large horizontal light bar. Like the front, the rear also gets a long horizontal tail lamp running across the car's width. Styling-wise, the SUV looks quite sharp and elegant with its aerodynamic friendly cuts and creases. Dimension wise, it is a little longer than GLS SUV, but the height is a tad lower to make it more aerodynamic. The EQS SUV measures 5,125 mm long, 1959 mm wide and with a height of 1718mm, while the wheelbase of 3210mm is the same as that of the EQS sedan.
Interior
The interior of the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV quite futuristic.The car gets a large 56.0-inch MBUX Hyperscreen system that includes the instrument cluster, infotainment screen, and passenger display that runs across the car's dashboard. The space offered by the EQS SUV is generous. The headroom in the first and second row of seats with sliding sunroof is 40.7-inches.The second row of seats can also be electrically adjusted forward and backwards by up to 5-inches as standard. As a result, the knee room in the second row of seats is between 32.7 and 37.8-inches. The backrests of the second row of seats recline electrically by 14-degrees to the front and 4-degrees to the rear to provide extreme comfortable experience. To elevate audio experience, the EQS SUV comes with a Dolby Atmos sound system.
Powertrain
The EQS SUV comes with two variant options - EQS 450+ and EQS 580 4MATIC. The EQS 450+ variant is a single motor, rear-wheel drive version that produces 355 hp of power and 568Nm of peak torque. On the other hand, EQS 580 4MATIC is an all-wheel-drive system that generates a whopping 536bhp of power and 858 Nm of torque. Both the variant pack 107.8 kWh battery pack that provides around 600-660 km of WLTP range.
Launch and Rivals
The launch timeline for the EQS SUV is expected to be around the first half of 2023, and once launched, it will go up against BMW iX, Audi e-tron and highly anticipated Tesla X(expected to launch in 2023).