A slower local start than expected for Benz’s electric division pathfinder model hasn’t diminished distributor belief in this broadening power play.

Yet to be unwrapped but all almost certainly due to present in New Zealand - here are three future EQ models under test.

MORE electric cars are coming from Mercedes – and, once supply constraints are lifted, more effort is going to be put into achieving additional market involvement for the one already here.

In acknowledging interest in the six additional EQ models that the parent brand has confirmed, Mercedes Benz New Zealand has also confirmed it would love to have seen more than 23 registrations to date for the EQC that has been available since January and presently is the sole standard bearer for the brand’s electric mobility division.

The modest count – which places the model at level pegging with the Tesla Model S and Kia Niro as the country’s 11th most popular brand-new electric cars represented by distributors – is not down to consumer disinterest, the local operator insists.

Quite the opposite. Definite buy-in is perceived for the NZ edition, provisioned as a EQC 400 4matic, costing $142,900.

However, emergent constraints on the medium-sized sports utility’s production and availability has hindered local distribution and been a blow given that New Zealand was among the first countries in the world to receive the EQC.

Even though the production rate of this car (and others) has picked up in recent months, the supply chain has yet to recover.

restricted supply has pegged back the EQC sales expectation - but more cars are coming.

Interestingly, Benz refuses to specifically cite the coronavirus pandemic as being the big issue; though it obviously has been for all car makers.

Nonetheless, the Auckland-based outfit has seen few cars arrive since securing an initial shipment to time with national release at the start of the year.

“The EQC has been a success for us so far in New Zealand, selling out all available units,” a local spokesman said.

“We knew that the supply ramp up would take time due to the global demand for the vehicle, and we look forward to fulfilling more of the current customer demand in the near future.”

The car will be subject to more intense push soon; a shipment of additional stock is reportedly already en route. A fresh push seems set to be timed for the start of 2021.

The renewed campaign will ultimately potentially time with the emergent availability of more EQ family members, confirmed by head office just this week.

Germany has cited six new full-electrics as being incoming for production, four of which will be underpinned by a new modular platform still under development.

The NZ office has shied from saying when the cars might avail here.

EV uptake in New Zealand is still modest.

“We’re optimistic and excited about the growth of the EV portfolio and we hope to bring these new variants to the New Zealand market in the next few years. For the moment it is too early to confirm when the next EQ variant will arrive on our shores.”

As a sign of the how far the programme surrounding the EVA2 common scalable architecture has progressed, Benz released images of disguised cars undergoing trials in public. These have since been identified as the EQE and EQS luxury sedans and EQS sports utility.

The EQS sedan – which can be called an electric S-Class – is set to be in build next year, the others in 2022.

Before all that happens, the brand will launch two electrified versions of vehicles that provision now in fossil-fuelled form – the EQA, which spins off the GLA, and the EQB, derived from the GLB.

Also on the electric release roster are a fully battery-reliant version of the rugged G-Class as well as a EQS in Maybach format. The uber-plush ultra-premium brand has not really represented in NZ to date; the closest market for Maybach being Australia. However, it seems possible that might change now that it has electric and also with the GLS large SUV also provisioning as a Maybach model.

In addition to all this, the make has unfolded plans for a new fully electric architect designed for compact and medium-sized vehicles, called MMA, arriving in 2025, and has used the Beijing motor show to display a concept, the EQXX prototype, which promises the world’s longest electric car range.

That’s a bold statement, given the maker has already cited expectation of the

EQS achieving 700 kilometres’ range, based on the European WLTP testing standards, when provisioned with a 100kWh battery. It's likely that a range of smaller battery options will also be made available.

The production centre for the luxury electrics is the brand’s Sindelfingen ‘Factory 56,’ which is one of the world’s most technically advanced manufacturing facilities. Factory 56 is also home to the new S-Class, incoming here soon, in standard and hybrid forms.

Mercedes ideas about EQ styling has been expressed by concepts, such as the 2019 Vision EQ Silver Arrow.

As much as EQS is considered part of the S-Class family, Ola Kallenius – chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG, and head of Mercedes-Benz – has assured it will have its own distinct entity: “It’s not our goal to say here’s another S-Class that looks exactly the same, it’s just a powertrain difference. It will be a different luxury tech proposition.”

The Benz push aligns with a public pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and is another reminder about how serious this and other makes are about divesting from fossil fuels. The world’s oldest make is going hard; it claims all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles will account for more than 50 percent of its sales before the end of this decade.

It’s a shift that New Zealand could conceivably find relatively unchallenging to accept, in that our electricity production infrastructure is so obviously Green-minded, far more so than in most countries thanks to our high reliance on hydro, wind and geothermal generation.

The lack of Government incentive to help consumers buy into brand-new EVs, plus the market being open to used and grey import electrics that are often perceived – usually wrongly - to be better value, and even the relatively low price of petrol and diesel is patently inhibiting any serious swing toward plug-ins.

To date this year, just 1084 brand-new electric passenger vehicles have found homes; a fraction of the total count of new cars registered this year, in a market condition that is down almost 25 percent on the same period of 2019.

The model with the highest count of registrations is the Tesla Model3, with 414 plated-up to date. That’s not necessarily down to a rush on the car now; it’s effectively Tesla making good on orders that might be placed at least a year.

The Hyundai Kona comes second, with 171 units, then the Nissan Leaf, with 116 – though many of these might have been parallel imports. The VW Golf has achieved 69 placements, the Jaguar i-Pace and Tesla Model X 47 each and the Audi e-tron 38, a count also accrued by the Hyundai Ioniq. Next come the Mini hatch, on 31 and BMW i3, with 24.

Under-performing the EQC, Model S and Niro are the Renault Zoe (six), LDV EV80 (four), Porsche Taycan (three, though availability has just begun), Renault Kangoo (two), the list rounding out with three models the general public is likely to be unfamiliar with taking one registration apiece. These being the Factory Built EV10, the Factory Built Souzhou and the Polaris Groupil.