Mercedes follows Tesla's lead and reduces prices of the electric EQE and EQS sedans in China by up to 20%
While prospective electric car buyers in the United States and many other western countries are dealing with insanely high EV asking prices that tend to rise even further, electric car prices are trending in the exact opposite direction in the most populated country in the world. Most notably, Tesla has already lowered its prices in China a few weeks ago, and the German automaker Mercedes has now done the same with the sinfully expensive electric EQS and the similarly looking EQE sedan.
As a possible reason for these significant price cuts, Bloomberg claims that as few as 100 Mercedes EQS were sold in China per month, which is why the company is now offering its electric S-Class at a much lower entry price. Instead of 1.19 million yuan, the EQS now costs at least 956,000 yuan, which is the equivalent of roughly US$135,000. Surprisingly, this 20% price cut does not change the fact that the Tesla Model S competitor is still significantly more expensive in China than in the US, which is where the Mercedes EQS sedan currently starts at US$102,000 excluding taxes.
On the other hand, the slightly smaller sister model, the Mercedes EQE, has received a much less dramatic price cut. The base model of the more affordable electric sedan has been reduced from US$75,000 to US$67,400, which corresponds to a discount of approximately 10 percent. In comparison, US buyers have to pay at least US$74,900 for the least expensive trim of the Mercedes EQE. It remains to be seen if EV makers like Tesla and Mercedes will soon introduce some kind of price drops in other countries outside China, or if these incentives will remain exclusive to one of the most important growth markets in the world.
