Mercedes goes to drop the “EQ” branding from the names of their electrical automobiles as early as 2024, citing confusion from clients, as reported by Handelsblatt.

Lately, Mercedes has branded its electrical choices and ideas with an “EQ” badge, meant to face for “electrical intelligence” in a riff on the idea of “IQ.”

To date, every of Mercedes’ EVs have included the letters “EQ” of their identify.

This appears easy sufficient, however finally you find yourself with alphabet soup. In varied areas, Mercedes sells or will quickly promote an EQA, EQB, EQC, EQE, EQE SUV, EQS, EQS SUV, EQV, and probably an EQG and EQT.

Most Mercedes fashions have caught with a mannequin designation based mostly on dimension or physique sort, however EQ fashions designate themselves based mostly on electrical drive. This might lead clients to assume that EQ fashions have one thing related by way of dimension or physique sort, when actually the EQT and EQA don’t have anything in widespread besides powertrain.

And Mercedes’ fuel autos don’t use lettering based mostly on powertrain, so why ought to the electrical fashions accomplish that? It’s not in keeping with the remainder of Mercedes’ branding.

Particularly given the way forward for the corporate. Mercedes has already declared loss of life of the interior combustion engine, and after 2025, each new automobile structure it introduces might be electrical.

The timeline for retiring the EQ model meshes with this electric-only timeline. Mercedes says that the primary non-EQ electrical mannequin they introduce might be their subsequent era of compact automobiles, which must be in the marketplace in late 2024.

Electrek’s Take

To me, it is a good and overdue transfer.

So far as I’m involved, nearly each electrical mannequin identify on the market at present is dangerous or complicated ultimately or one other. Both they take the identical identify as a fuel mannequin (Niro, Kona), confuse mannequin names with sub-brand names (Ioniq, e-tron), silo electrical autos right into a sub-brand which may very well be killed off (BMW i), or have lengthy and ridiculous names that are unattainable for the buyer to grasp at a look (2023 BMW X5 xDrive45e Sports activities Exercise Automobile®).

All of those, I feel, are a sign of an automaker not taking electrical fashions severely ultimately or one other. Fuel fashions don’t get this remedy (okay, so in BMW’s case they do) – they often get a daily mannequin identify, distinct from different fashions, handled and marketed as its personal program by the automaker. Malibu. Corolla. Integra. Expedition. Tucson.

Why can’t we get extra electrical fashions like that? Considered one of few fashions from an incumbent producer that matches this naming conference is the Porsche Taycan. It’s an actual automobile with an actual mannequin identify handled as one thing distinct by the corporate that makes it. Do extra of that.

Mercedes doesn’t actually use this kind of designation for any of their autos, to be honest. They principally stick to letters and numbers for his or her fuel fashions as effectively. However having an “EQ” sub-brand nonetheless impressed some skepticism from me after seeing what BMW did with their “i” sub-brand.

BMW was forward of the curve with EVs, with the Mini E, ActiveE and BMW i3 all launched fairly early within the recreation. However then they only… stopped. Nothing was performed with the “i” model for a number of years, and internally the entire division was de-emphasized. This even ended up resulting in former CEO Harald Kruger’s resignation – rumors have been, he got here in with electrification as a precedence, however executives underneath him got here collectively and refused to cooperate, and he was unable to overpower them.

So that is the fear about firms siloing their EV improvement into its personal division. In the event that they do that, it’s fully doable for some misguided govt(s) to push to defund that division, as we noticed in BMW, and I fear that that’s doable with different firms as effectively. Ford was hailed for its “Staff Edison” technique, which works effectively so long as Jim Farley is right here to push electrification, however what if a less-electrifying govt involves the pinnacle? May Edison be killed off?

So actually, to me, the most effective resolution is to only cease making an attempt to get intelligent with EVs and deal with them such as you would deal with some other mannequin program. Take them severely. Cease messing round. And it appears like Mercedes is doing this, which is nice.

Sadly this additionally implies that Mercedes will find yourself promoting some EVs which might be EQ-branded whereas promoting some EVs that aren’t EQ-branded through the transition to this new system, which can result in even extra confusion within the meantime – very like Audi’s transition between utilizing e-tron as a mannequin identify for his or her first electrical SUV and their present standing utilizing e-tron as a designation for all of their electrical fashions. However in the long run, treating EVs like regular fashions, like they need to have performed within the first place (*ahem*), will make issues a lot simpler on everybody.