In the winter wonderland that is snowy Sweden at this time of the year, the 2027 Mercedes-Benz C-Class with EQ Technology has been spotted. That’s a roundabout way of describing the electric C-Class, but it’s better than EQC, and the first electric C-Class needs to be impressive if it is to have a fighting chance in its battle with the upcoming BMW i3. Mercedes has learned that an EV-exclusive design is ineffective when the result is an amorphous blob, like the ill-fated EQS, but instead of making its electric vehicles masquerade as combustion cars, Mercedes is making the two types meet in the middle, and this C-Class EV prototype gives us a preview of what to expect.
New Styling for the Electric C-Class Sedan
SH Proshots/Autoblog
Like the forthcoming E-Class, the new C-Class EV will signal a return to elegance, with sharper edges. But it will also lean into trends; although this prototype is fully covered in camouflage, a teaser of the new C-Class was shared by Stuttgart last year, and it showed an illuminated grille with an oversized three-pointed star in the center surrounded by hundreds of square, pixel-like lights. The wheels on this development mule are also new, and to this writer’s eyes, look like they could have been borrowed from Kia.
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Around the glasshouse, we see Merc’s traditional silver accenting, and at the back, we see some major departures from tradition, with the sedan losing its three-box shape and gaining what appears to be a liftback tailgate. The design gives the C-Class a pert rear end, to which the snow of the Arctic Circle is closely adhering. Despite this, the LED lighting beneath shines through, revealing a similar look to the new 2026 CLA, and we’ll see LED tri-element stars at both ends of the car. The CLA baby brother is a rather good-looking vehicle, and we hope the C-Class is just as handsome once the vinyl is removed. But what matters most is what we can’t see in these images.
What to Expect from the First Electric C-Class
SH Proshots/Autoblog
The teaser referenced earlier also gave us a taste of the C-Class with EQ Technology’s performance, promising 497 miles of range, thanks to its MB.EA architecture. The 800-volt platform will endow the C-Class EV with ultra-fast charging at up to 330kW, and its 94kWh battery pack will supply energy to either rear- or all-wheel-drive configurations, the latter with two motors. These higher trims will have around 480 horsepower, if not more, by the time the electric C-Class makes its debut later in 2026 for the 2027 model year. As with the CLA and the new GLC EQ, we can expect an expansive Hyperscreen in the cabin, and it will offer AI-powered features from both Google and Microsoft. We’ll learn more as the camo comes off through the rest of the year, and hopefully, Mercedes will have what it takes to closely rival its Munich-based nemesis.
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