The electrical Mercedes-Benz C-Class has been spied forward of its anticipated unveiling later this yr as a rival to the upcoming BMW i3, with a claimed vary of as much as 800km.
The C-Class electrical car (EV) can be formally named ‘C-Class with EQ Expertise’, following the naming technique used for the electrical GLC with EQ Expertise SUV revealed on the Munich motor present in 2025.
Set to enter manufacturing in the course of the second quarter (April to June) of 2026, the electrical sedan will share its 800-volt MB.EA electrical underpinnings with the BMW iX3-rivalling GLC EV.
Like the electrical SUV, it shares little with its combustion-powered counterpart.
The newest photos present the C-Class EQ’s ‘iconic grille’, seen in a teaser picture issued by the automaker in September final yr, stays regardless of the resignation of longstanding design boss Gorden Wagener.
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Mr Wagener’s successor – Bastian Baudy, who comes from Mercedes-AMG – is “setting the course for the subsequent period of its design language,” in keeping with the automaker, with the C-Class EQ now too near its ultimate manufacturing guise for any important design adjustments.
The automaker has stated its earlier EVs had been too polarising of their design, with the C-Class EQ shifting away from the swoopy EQS and EQE physique shapes and as an alternative adopting one thing nearer to a standard ‘three-box’ sedan silhouette.
The ‘iconic grille’ harkens again to earlier, extra formal grilles from Mercedes-Benz and contrasts with the rounded physique form of the C-Class EQ.
Just like the GLC EV’s grille, it may be illuminated, nevertheless it options 4 horizontal slats, the place the GLC has solely three.
As seen in earlier spy photographs – together with of the car testing on the Nürburgring in Germany – the C-pillar behind the rear doorways stays closely camouflaged, suggesting an extra quarter window could also be fitted.
Inside, higher-grade variations of the C-Class EQ are anticipated to characteristic the 39.1-inch ‘MBUX Hyperscreen’, which stretches throughout the total width of the dashboard, as seen on the GLC EQ and the new-generation CLA.
Except for its claimed 800km vary, full powertrain particulars for the C-Class EQ are but to be revealed, although the GLC EQ supplies a sign of what’s going to be provided beneath the pores and skin.
The highest-spec GLC 400 4Matic EQ encompasses a 360kW dual-motor all-wheel-drive system, together with a two-speed gearbox for the rear axle and a 94kWh nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery with a claimed 713km WLTP vary.
Decrease-spec variations run a smaller lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery and a single-motor rear-wheel-drive setup.
The MB.EA platform’s 800-volt structure helps DC quick charging at charges of as much as 330kW.
The C-Class EQ will compete with the upcoming BMW i3 electrical sedan – sharing its ‘Neue Klasse’ underpinnings with the iX3 – with each claiming as much as 800km of driving vary.
The BMW lineup may even embody an electrical, quad-motor M efficiency mannequin due in 2027, whereas Mercedes-AMG is making ready electrical fashions of its personal.
