Mercedes-Benz To Double Down On Fully Electric Vehicles

By 2020, Mercedes-Benz plans to unveil a fully electric car that has a battery able to give it a range of at least 500km. The German automaker revealed this goal during its annual shareholder meeting in Berlin, according to AFP, by Daimler AG chairman Dr Dieter Zetsche.

The news does come as somewhat of a surprise since Mercedes-Benz has been rather quiet with its electric technology for a couple of years now, with the last stirring from that front being the fully electric version of their existing cars such as the B-Class and, more rousingly, the all-electric SLS AMG Electric Drive.

But it is unsurprising if one steps back and considers their options, quickly coming to the conclusion that this route seems to be their most obvious. And given their position as one of Europe’s eminent automakers, their commitment to battery-powered cars makes the technology’s future a little brighter.

Mercedes-Benz does offer many of its vehicles, particularly the larger ones, as hybrids. But Dr Zetsche said that the Daimler Group will offer 10 plug-in hybrid models on the market by 2017 and took the opportunity to underline its faith in diesel by reiterating its crucial role in the global reduction of CO2 emissions.

Speaking of diesels, the Volkswagen Group is also investing in an electrified future. Porsche, a brand that’s under Volkswagen, is developing a fully electric sports sedan called the Mission E that’s due for a 2018 release. One of the goals for that car also includes a similarly long range under battery power.

For Daimler, they are making inroads with their current crop of larger hybridised vehicles, and are leaning even more on electrically-assisted petrol engines with the full range of Smart city cars offered optionally as a plug-in hybrid.

Until the technology catches up enough to make larger EVs as, or nearly as, practical as their hybrid forerunners, fully electric versions of Mercedes-Benz’s E-Class or S-Class are well in the distance. But the announcement from Daimler’s chairman gives us a clearer timeline for when we can expect to see that materialise.

Mazda’s Next RX Sports Coupe Not A Priority

As much as the motoring enthusiasts and the media got very excited indeed at the sight of the RX-Vision concept at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, it seems that Mazda isn’t in any sort of rush to deliver it to us in production form.

According to CarAdvice, Yuji Nakemine, Mazda Corporation’s senior managing executive officer and global director said during his visit to Melbourne recently: “I was encouraged by the concept but still think, we just created that kind of concept, kind of a dream of bringing that to market in the future but at this moment, no specific plan to mass-produce the vehicle,”

He then added, “I think Mazda R&D will continue to look, that’s their dream as engineers. When it comes to business I think we have to study lots of elements, recovering engineering costs, tooling, we have to be realistic. At this time we have the MX-5 RF and soft-top, we shouldn’t be, kind of, distracted by so many rumours, our sales organisation should take advantage of the current product line-up.”

There was no shortage of rumours flying as the concept was unveiled last year, tentatively labelled as the RX-9, and the billed as the successor to the lineage that stands with the RX-8 and RX-7 before that.

The more popular talk surrounded the likelihood that Mazda would introduce a turbocharged rotary engine or even some type of hybrid drive to really give their next performance coupe some real supercar-worrying performance. And Mazda even allegedly filed some patents in the United States for that kind of engine, fuelling further speculation.

Despite the other rumour being a projected 2020 release for an RX-9 sports coupe to coincide with Mazda’s centenary, this denial by a top Mazda executive might mean that either the car won’t see a global production debut or that it will be delayed it by at least another few years.