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Mercedes-Benz EQS to CKD in India; Malaysia next?

Shaun · Jan 17, 2022 12:07 PM

Mercedes-Benz EQS to CKD in India; Malaysia next? 01

Mercedes-Benz has plans to set up local assembly (CKD) operations of the Mercedes-Benz EQS in India later this year, said Martin Schwenk, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, as reported by Automotive News Europe.

Schwenk also said that Mercedes-Benz will be the first luxury carmaker to assemble EVs in India and expects the CKD EQS to be on sale in the fourth quarter of this year.

Mercedes-Benz EQS to CKD in India; Malaysia next? 02

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EV incentives in India can be rather complex as it varies from one state to another. On a national level, the government has allocated a USD 1.4 billion incentive package that provides direct incentives on the purchase of electric vehicles, and USD 136 million package to support the deployment of charging infrastructure.

Their goal is to have electrified vehicles (EVs, hybrids, plug-in hybrids) contributing 30 percent of four-wheeled motor vehicle sales by 2030.

Also read: Mercedes-Benz EQS unveiled, 770 km range and ready for L3 autonomous driving

Mercedes-Benz EQS to CKD in India; Malaysia next? 01

The government subsidises INR 10,000 (RM 563) for each kilowatt-hour (kWh) of battery capacity in the vehicle, estimated to be 50 percent of the battery cost. However, the EVs have to be priced at less than INR 1 million (~RM 87.8k) in order to qualify, which would obviously disqualify the EQS.

Also read: India is giving out RM 12.4k to EV buyers - Tata and Mahindra immediate beneficiaries

Mercedes-Benz EQS to CKD in India; Malaysia next? 02

Hence the CKD operation is needed to navigate around the 100 percent import duties on fully-imported cars, and push to electrify the brand’s portfolio in Asia.

"Now we bring a car from an imported to a domestically produced vehicle because it has underlying volume and product potential," Schwenk added.

Mercedes-Benz EQS to CKD in India; Malaysia next? 03

Closer to home, Mercedes-Benz Thailand has confirmed that it will be assembling the Mercedes-Benz EQS later this year, with Thailand-assembled high-voltage battery, at its Samutprakarn plant.

Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia has said that the company is looking into local assembly (CKD) of electric vehicle (EV) models at its Pekan plant. Though it’s highly dependent on various factors beyond the company’s control such as Malaysia’s direction for low carbon mobility.

Also read: Mercedes-Benz Malaysia mulls CKD EV models, local battery recycling

Mercedes-Benz EQS to CKD in India; Malaysia next? 04

To recap, Mercedes-Benz offers two variants of the non-AMG EQS globally, the EQS 450+ and EQS 580 4Matic, with their specifications as below:

Mercedes-Benz EQS variants
  Mercedes EQS 450+ Mercedes EQS 580 4Matic
Maximum Power output (PS) 333 523
Maximum Torque (Nm) 568 855
0-100 km/h (secs.) 6.2 4.3
Drivetrain RWD AWD
Battery capacity (kWh) 107.8 107.8
AC charging (Standard) (kW) 11 11
AC charge to 100% (11 kW) (hrs) 10 10
AC charging (optional) (kW) 22 22
AC charge to 100 % (22 kW) (hrs) 5 5
DC fast charging (kW) 200 200
DC charge to 80% (min) 31 31

Also read: Rich Malaysians have to wait: Mercedes-Benz EQS to launch in Indonesia in 2022, after Thailand

 

Shaun

Senior Writer

The quest for automotive knowledge began as soon as the earliest memories. Various sources information, even questionable ones, have been explored including video games, television, magazines, or even internet forums. Still stuck in that rabbit hole.

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