New Mercedes-Benz EQC 2020: Electric SUV off to strong start but hasn't taken off - yet

Mercedes-Benz Australia’s first foray into battery-electric SUVs, the mid-size EQC, is off to a strong start, but it is yet to truly take off. However, that will change very soon.

Speaking to CarsGuide, Mercedes-Australia Australia spokesperson Ryan Lewis indicated EQC sales were always expected to ramp up gradually, with just 35 units registered as sold from September 2019 to April 2020, including 24 in the first four months of this year.

“The first part of the year was going to be tricky from a stock point of view,” he said. “We expected the bigger volumes of cars to arrive by mid-year, and we’re kind of at the verge of that right now.

“So, deliveries have started, which is great. All (25) Edition 1 (variants) are gone for those first customers who managed to secure those, and we’re now waiting to get some more meaningful stock numbers in the second part of the year.

“But it’s great to have the car out there. Interest’s been increasing all the time – people taking test drives and that sort of thing.

“I think the barriers to electric are slowly being broken down and people are more open-minded than ever, so we’re optimistic, but we need to get some more vehicles for the rest of the year to see how we go there.”

Mr Lewis clarified “there will be vehicles available” to purchase from dealer stock in the second half of the year, with EQCs having so far been spoken for ex-factory.

“There’s definitely vehicles coming for customers who have specific requests, but there will be cars available for new customers,” he said.

As reported, the Tesla Model Y rival is currently available in a single variant, the 300kW/760Nm EQC400, which is priced from $137,900 plus on-road costs.