Mercedes C-Class Electric driven: new tech, still a proper Merc

The long-running German saloon has gone electrical – but it keeps each the strengths that made it great The accomplishment of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Electric seems a seminal infinitesimal connected the roadworthy to afloat electrification. Here we person the steadfast whose founder, Karl Benz, patented the combustion-powered rider conveyance 140 years ago, launching an electrical mentation of the defining exemplary successful its line-up.Boss Ola Källenius describes this caller EV arsenic designed to “hit the centre of the Mercedes instrumentality base”. While the GLC SUV is Stuttgart’s best-seller nowadays, the compact enforcement saloon marketplace remains the arena successful which German premium brands are judged (and with the Neue Klasse BMW i3 connected the way, our roadworthy testers are already salivating to bash immoderate judging). So an electrical C-Class is simply a large deal, adjacent if Källenius claims the purpose is to guarantee you don’t truly announcement the alteration successful powertrain. “The feedback from dealers and customers is that we’ve deed the spot,” helium tells me. “They accidental ‘that’s a beauteous car and oh, it’s electric? Yeah, great.’”As with the intimately related caller electrical GLC, successful benignant and sanction this is an electrical C-Class and not, say, an EQC saloon. In fact, Mercedes has softly ditched its EQ branding wholly here: the authoritative sanction of this archetypal variant is the 400 4Matic electric. Yes, with a lower-case ‘e’.So is this a existent C-Class that happens to beryllium electric, oregon is conscionable an mean electrical saloon with a fancy grille? Let's find out.