Mercedes takes its seven-seat EV below £50,000 and adds 320kW charging for good measure
It has to be considered the most sincere compliment to BMW’s Neue Klasse iX3 that, in the year of its introduction, arch rival Mercedes has taken the trouble to surround it with not one but two fresh competitors. Only a few weeks ago, we brought you a first drive of the new-generation Mercedes GLC Electric: the five-seat SUV that has indirectly replaced the seminal EQC. But while that car probably counts as the iX3’s closer rival, there is another that bigger families should consider. And, as if to highlight how much money Mercedes continues to pour into its electrification efforts, it’s built on a different platform than the GLC and has a chromey ‘grille’ ready to dazzle in an entirely different way – with less reflective metalwork and more actual illumination, if you like that sort of thing.This is the new Mercedes GLB Electric. Replacing the EQB, it’s larger than the car it’s succeeding, stretching beyond 4.7m. As far as UK sales will be concerned (deliveries will start this summer), it’s exclusively a seven-seater. And Mercedes is evidently more serious about its passenger-carrying practicality than it was with its predecessor, which was the sort of SUV you might more accurately have described as a 5+2.
