Mercedes puts an end to combustion engines

Mercedes Benz heralds the end of the combustion engine fleet as early as 2023. The traditional manufacturer is planning an important step on the way to offering only electric cars in the future. But until then it will still be some time.

Last appearance of the E-Class: Mercedes announces the end of combustion engines

The E-Class from Mercedes-Benz will be given its final revision next year, making it the last new combustion engine from the traditional Stuttgart brand. “As things stand today, the E-Class with its derivatives is the last model from Mercedes-Benz to be built on a pure combustion engine platform,” so Markus Schäfer, head of development at Mercedes, to the automobile week.

The new version of the E-Class should be presented this year and then come onto the market in spring 2023. From 2024/2025 all subsequent versions and models will already be on platforms that specifically designed for electric drives became.

The S and C-Class are also based on the last combustion engine platform. They also no longer expect a new version. Instead, the models are continued in their current form until the end. When exactly this will be the case for the individual models has not yet been revealed. But the envisaged end for the combustion engine at Mercedes: From 2030, only electric cars will be offered at least in suitable markets like Europe.

“This concludes the chapter of this platform and has carried many millions of vehicles. But of course we are doing everything we can to ensure that this platform remains certifiable until the end of the decade,” Schäfer continues. So it will be in the future only optimized on the existing platform, There shouldn’t be any new developments. When the new Euro 7 emission standard starts – which, according to drafts, contains hardly any tougher regulations for cars than Euro 6 – Mercedes also wants to start restricting the number of engine variants.

The Vision EQXX from Mercedes is only a concept, but as a technology carrier it shows where Mercedes is headed:

In the future, Mercedes will rely entirely on BEVs

The more the focus is taken away from the combustion engine, the more the people from Stuttgart want to be pounce on the battery-electric drive. Unlike BMW, Schäfer does not see fuel cells as an alternative for cars. Mercedes will therefore concentrate on electric cars with batteries.