► CAR scoops Merc’s planned electric GLR
► Synergy between AMG and EQ
► Part of recently-departed Moers’ legacy
This is the most potent creation in a product plan left behind by departed AMG boss Tobias Moers: a Mercedes GLR. It’s a battery-electric, hyper-powered luxury SUV to top the burgeoning EQ range.
Picture the GLC in its sportiest form, blow it up a couple of sizes, change the proportions to reflect its lack of engine, and the outcome could be a modern take on the old R-Class: the oddball MPV/luxury limo, available with up to seven seats.
A reborn R-Class arriving 20 years after the original could be badged as an EQ (electric division) product or AMG (emphasising its vast power). It’s tentatively badged Mercedes-AMG GLR but, given its electric-only powertrain, may become EQR.
What’s expected to power the GLR/EQR?
Energy is provided by a 105kWh power pack with a 20kWh overboost feature. Sporting liquid-cooled round energy cells, the new graphene-based metal-free AMG batteries are designed for 350kW fast-charging. Given this would be a car built for high miles carrying multiple occupants, the batteries must be able to withstand hard use without degradation.
The version of Merc’s new electric platform in the GLR is said to boast three 250kW motors for a combined output of 1006bhp and 996lb ft of torque. While single-speed direct-drive caters for the front wheels, the rear wheels are kept busy by a two-speed powershift transmission – as pioneered by the Porsche Taycan.
Anything more… normal in Merc’s electric plans?
Mercedes recently announced a massive expansion of its fully-electric EQ range. The one we all knew was coming, the luxury EQS saloon that will sit alongside the S-Class, will be flanked by a new EQA and EQE. We’ll see the EQA – an electric version of the GLA crossover – in the first months of 2021. Mercedes has also confirmed an electric G-Class.
‘Our task is individual mobility without emissions,’ says Merc boss Ola Källenius. ‘For our next-gen EQ models, we have already taken steps with our suppliers to make a proportion of battery cells using CO2-neutral production, and developed our new e-platform [on the EQS] exclusively for the requirements of mid- and full-size luxury cars.’
‘At Mercedes-Benz, we strive for nothing less than taking the lead in electric drive and car software,’ Merc’s head of R&D, Markus Schäfer, said in a press conference signposting Merc’s future electrification efforts. ‘We are going to do it the Mercedes way, bringing a true luxury experience to the world of electric and connected cars and, while we will expand the electrified portfolio towards a share of more than 50% of global sales by 2030, our investments in combustion engine development will decline quickly and the number of combustion engine variants will fall by 70 per cent by 2030.’