As per media reports, Mercedes-Benz will reportedly reduce the number of petrol and diesel powertrains by 50 per cent. There’s no official source to confirm this. But we understand that Mercedes-Benz is taking this decision to comply with the upcoming Euro 7 regulations. Mercedes-Benz might soon come up with an official announcement to confirm the same and list down all the engines that are in the plans of being axed.
As the trend suggests, the chances are high that Mercedes will part their ways with the older and larger capacity engine. These engines are quite difficult to redevelop to make them compliant with the latest emission norms. Interestingly, the German luxury carmaker had announced the deferment of all V8-powered cars in the US market from 2022. And the reason being stated as issues in the supply chain and other factors.
Mercedes-Benz and a host of other luxury carmakers have also hinted at making a shift towards electric powertrain. In fact, carmakers like Volvo, Bentley and Jaguar plan to become all-electric carmakers by 2030. This is also evident from the recent developments that are happening within these companies. Most of them are making shift progress in the electric vehicle domain with a lot of investment and research. By 2026, Mercedes-Benz plans to reduce the investment in internal combustion engines and plug-in hybrids by almost 80 per cent. And for the electric segment in the period between 2022 to 2030, the investment will be in the range of EUR 40 billion.
Currently, the e-mobility movement in India is quite evident in the two-wheeler segment, especially in the scooter market. A typical customer of today has more than 5 choice electric scooters to choose from. And each of them is quite competent when compared to their ICE counterparts. The development is still in progress in the passenger car segment, and there are not many options. But, this will soon change, as there’s some rapid progress happening and soon customers will get a fair list of choices. Mercedes-Benz India, have one electric vehicle in their portfolio – the EQC SUV. And as per plans, the standard EQS will hit the Indian roads by early 2022.