Mercedes and BMW Just Released Premium EV Concept Cars. Should Tesla Be Worried?

Q.ai — a Forbes Company
3 min readSep 5, 2023

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Key Takeaways

  • Mercedes and BMW unveiled new EV concept cars at the IAA auto show
  • Mercedes boasts impressive efficiency and BMW showed off fancy features
  • Premium EV competition might signal trouble for Tesla

BMW and Mercedes unveiled concept cars — which means they could still change quite a bit before they’re actually on the market — at the recent IAA auto show in Munich. Do Mercedes and BMW have a shot at overtaking Tesla? We’ll discuss below.

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What are Mercedes and BMW working with?

The Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA Class is built on a new EV platform from the automaker. They’re calling it the Mercedes‑Benz Modular Architecture (MMA). The Concept CLA Class is a four-door sedan and the first in a forthcoming line of MMA EVs.

The Concept CLA Class is comparable in size to the current Mercedes CLA sedan. In terms of efficiency, it can achieve 466 miles of WLPT range (around 400 miles in EPA terms), which is really good. It will also allow drivers to add around 200 miles of range in just 15 minutes — a very rapid charge. As of now, the CLA Class is supposed to go into production in late 2024.

Meanwhile, the BMW Vision Neue Klasse is also built on a new architecture that will support BMW’s EVs going forward. The first of this series is supposed to enter production in 2025. BMW said the car will have “Panoramic Vision,” or a heads-up display which projects information on the windscreen for both driver and passenger.

In terms of the car’s efficiency, well, BMW was a little lighter on those details. The automaker said this new generation of its technology will improve the charging speed and boost the range by up to 30%.

Is Tesla shaking in its boots?

The Mercedes concept car does have a range longer than any Tesla model, so that’s something. Mercedes hopes to sell only EVs where possible by the end of this decade and has plans to set up eight battery factories with partners, which indicates an aggressive EV strategy for the coming years.

BMW has also indicated it wants to expedite its progress in the EV space. “We want to make this vehicle generation so modern that it looks like we skipped one generation,” said BMW Chief Designer Adrian van Hooydonk.

We haven’t heard from Elon on the topic, but BMW is up 1.49% today and Mercedes is up .62%.

The bottom line

Competition is stiffening in the EV space. The Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA Class in particular, because we know more about its projected efficiency, is a car we expect to be a big deal once it gets into driveways. We’re betting on Mercedes as a major player in premium EVs.

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Q.ai — a Forbes Company
Q.ai — a Forbes Company

Written by Q.ai — a Forbes Company

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