Tag Archives: Mercedes-Benz

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Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot enables autonomous driving up to 95 km/h

From 2025, all new Mercedes-Benz models with level 3 autonomous driving will, thanks to new software, be able to drive independently at speeds of up to 95 km/h.

Mercedes-Benz announced that the software update is free, and the prices of the new models will not change. When that happens, Mercedes-Benz cars will be the fastest cars in the world homologated with a level 3 autonomous driving system.

“Soon it will be possible to enable autonomous driving up to 95 km/h in current traffic under certain conditions on the German highway. With the help of this system, our customers can use their time more efficiently. Mercedes-Benz is once again setting standards in the industry and is constantly paving the way for autonomous driving.” said Markus Schafer, member of the Board of Management of the Mercedes-Benz Group.

Currently, the manufacturer is waiting for a certificate from the German authorities for the Drive Pilot autonomous driving system, which is available as an option for the S and EQS class, and costs 5,950 euros.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

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Mercedes-Benz may discontinue the GLC Coupe and GLE Coupe

In recent years, Mercedes-Benz has started to reduce the number of models in its range in order to focus more on profitable ones. German media recently published information that the company is considering giving up the SUV coupe segment, so the GLC Coupe and GLE Coupe models could be merged into one model or could be completely discontinued.

The GLC Coupe and GLE Coupe currently account for between 10 and 15 percent of global sales of the parent models on which they are based – the GLC and GLE. This is not the result they were expecting at Mercedes-Benz, so some members of the management are increasingly advocating for the discontinuation of the SUV coupe variant at the end of production of the current generations, referring to poor sales results. However, some are not very radical, so they believe that the chance of these models lies in merging.

In the next two years, the Mercedes-Benz SUV GLC EV should arrive on the market, and according to current information, it is very certain that this model will not be offered as a coupe.

For some models it is already too late and the decision is final. Unprofitable models such as the A-Class Sedan, CLA and B-Class will be permanently withdrawn after the end of production of the current generations.

Source: Handelsblatt

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Mercedes is replacing the EQS with the new S-Class

Mercedes-Benz recently announced that it will reduce production of its S-Class, and the reason is lower demand for these cars. The intention is to move to single-shift work, which will affect almost 1,500 employees, while some of them will be redeployed to other production sectors at the Sindelfingen plant. The German manufacturer now has a new plan, to put EQS and S-Class under one name.

Mercedes will not give up on internal combustion engines, at least not until the end of the decade. “In the future, there will be two S-Classes, one with ICE and one with electric drive,” said Mercedes director Ola Kallenius. This means that buyers will have more choice, as with the G-Class which is offered with internal combustion engines and as all-electric.

This is not a surprise, because sales of electric vehicles are not going according to the manufacturer’s plan. In the year 2023, Mercedes sold over 2 million cars worldwide, and it was expected that 20% of them would be electric cars, but that did not happen. Customers are increasingly turning to gasoline and diesel cars, as well as hybrids.

In Q2 2024, Mercedes sold just 33,400 cars from its S-Class (EQS, EQS SUV and GLS), which is a drop of 25 percent compared to 44,200 cars sold in the same period last year. The biggest decline was recorded in the markets of Europe (-27 percent), USA (-19 percent) and China (-13 percent).

It seems that customers are not making the switch to electric cars easily, even though the number of electric cars on European roads has increased by 2% in 2024.

Source: Mercedes-Benz