You close a door by saying, “Hey, Mercedes. Close my door.” Even rear-seat passengers can do this (it knows who’s speaking).
It plays concerts of sound and temperature — such as a beach setting that plays the sounds of waves and mimics the rhythms of ocean breezes coming from the air vents.
Its entire dashboard is essentially one large screen, door-to-door. The buttons that appear on that screen are just digital images, but with haptic feedback, “the user feels pulses on the smooth surface that give the impression of a mechanical switch.”
It vents subtle scents into the cabin on command – “Green figs and linen, anyone?”
And, of course, there’s nap mode. We’ve previewed nap mode for you before. But, in case you need a refresher – it reclines the seats, closes the windows and blinds, plays gentle music, and displays the night sky on screens. At a pre-set time, it wafts an invigorating fragrance into the cabin, and activates a gentle massage mode in the seats to wake you.
Oh, and it’s a car. Did we mention that? Meet the 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. The new all-electric flagship of the Mercedes-Benz lineup.
Price estimated from $110,000 to $185,000
The EQS will go on sale this fall. Mercedes hasn’t revealed the price but says it will mirror that of its gasoline-powered flagship, the S-Class sedan. That model can cost anywhere from about $110,000 to over $185,000 depending on trim and options, so the message is: The EQS will be available to those who aren’t terribly concerned about price.
Mechanically, it will be available in rear-wheel drive, with a single electric motor on the rear axle making 329 horsepower, or in all-wheel-drive, with one on each axle, totaling 516. Just one battery is offered — a 107.8 kWh battery. Mercedes hasn’t announced range figures for the U.S. but says it gets up to 478 miles in European testing. EPA ranges are always lower.
Mercedes says the battery can charge from 10% to 80% in 35 minutes with a DC fast charger.
Outside, it’s a sleek machine. Mercedes claims it’s one of the world’s most aerodynamic production cars, with a coefficient of drag of just 0.2. A huge, gently curving greenhouse makes that number possible. The false grille (actually a set of sensors for the many driver assistance features), if you look very closely, is made up of hundreds of tiny Mercedes 3-point star logos.
An AMG Line package makes more aggressively styled bumpers and larger, 21-inch wheels available.
Sumptuous Cabin
Inside, it’s as sumptuous as cars get without a Rolls Royce hood ornament on the front. The dashboard-spanning Hyperscreen uses 2.6 square feet of curved glass. There are three zones, a 12.3-inch instrument cluster on the driver’s side, a 17.7-inch central touchscreen, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen on the passenger’s side. Rear passengers can have optional touchscreens of their own.
Quilted, perforated leather seats are heated and cooled and include massaging elements. Ambient lighting is everywhere – strips of LEDs surround the air vents, seat backs, door panels, and so on. They can cycle through dozens of color schemes and be set to flash red warnings as part of the driver assistance systems.
Those are all standard and include adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go capability, automatic lane changes, active steering assist and lane-keeping assist (good up to 130 mph), automated emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, cross-traffic alert, and traffic-sign recognition.
We could go on almost indefinitely – just the press release announcing the features runs to 62 pages – but you get the point. It’s time to engage nap mode.
