Raise your hand if you saw this coming. Taking a page from BMW’s book, Mercedes plans to sell the next-gen S-Class with combustion engines and electric drivetrains. It effectively means the EQS will go away after a single generation, but not before a mid-cycle facelift. The current S-Class is also getting a facelift before transitioning to the next-gen model.
The important announcement was made by Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius in an interview with Autocar: "There will be two S-Classes in the future—ICE and electric." The head honcho in Stuttgart went on to say the gas and EV versions of the flagship will have similar designs inside and out. But while the BMW 7 Series and i7 use the same platform, that apparently won't be the case for the S-Class, according to undisclosed sources cited by the British magazine.
The S-Class without a combustion engine is expected to sit on the MB.EA Large architecture whereas the model with gas power will be underpinned by an updated iteration of the current MRA hardware. At the end of June, Källenius refuted rumors about the cancellation of the MB.EA platform, saying its development "is running at high speed." In the new interview with Autocar, he denied the report again: "We're already planning with MB.EA Large." In mid-May, German publication Handelsblatt stated the next-gen EV architecture had been scrapped.
Given the different platforms, we don't think the S-Class ICE and EV will be nearly identical by echoing the BMW 7 Series / i7. The sedans are likely to have varying proportions seeing as how a bespoke electric platform typically means the engineers can stretch the wheelbase after shortening the overhangs. With no need to host oily bits, the packaging is significantly improved, which is why EVs tend to be more spacious than similarly sized ICEs.
However, the two range-topping Mercedes models are likely to have more in common compared to the current S-Class and the EQS. The latter has been widely criticized for its bulbous appearance, which we're hoping will go away once the EQS dies. It's too soon to say whether a similar strategy is being worked on for the next-gen E-Class but the EQE isn't exactly a pretty car either.
Autocar does say that by developing a new S-Class with gas engines, there will be a next-gen E-Class ICE, and that one too will spawn a fully electric derivative to replace the EQE. Because the E and S are mechanically related, it makes sense financially to mirror the bigger model's strategy by spreading out development costs across more models.
In the meantime, the EQS is due for a facelift in 2025 while the current S-Class will be updated in 2026. Nothing is official at this point but it is believed the EQS will switch to an 800V electric architecture for significantly quicker charging times. It could take just 21 minutes to replenish the battery from 10% to 80%.
In addition, a new chemistry could unlock extra miles of range. For the 2025 model year, the EQS has had a battery capacity upgrade, from 108.4 kilowatt-hours to 118 kilowatt-hours, resulting in a WLTP range of 511 miles. In the United States, the most efficient 2025 EQS is rated at 371 miles.
At the end of June, Källenius revealed the company is spending "a lot more" on the S-Class compared to a mid-cycle revision: "We have invested a lot more in the model update of the new combustion engine S-Class than we normally spend on a facelift."
The existing gas and electric flagships are expected to be replaced around 2030 by the unified S-Class. Meanwhile, 2024 hasn’t exactly been kind to these two cars. S-Class deliveries went down by almost 37% in Q1. Figures for Q2 have not been disclosed but we do know that combined sales of the S-Class, EQS, EQS SUV, and GLS plummeted by 23% in the second quarter of the year. Because of the weaker demand, S-Class production is down to a single shift, which a supplier has labeled as being a "catastrophe."
