Just in time for the passage of President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill, German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz took a plunge into the U.S. electric vehicle market.
"The EQS is definitely a game-changer for us. It's really a turning point for the brand in the United States. It is our first dedicated electric model that we bring here into the market," said Heiko Schmidt, Mercedes-Benz Dept. Manager of EQ Brand Management.
The EQS resembles Mercedes-Benz's top-of-the-line S-class. The EQS 580 starts at $119,110. Its EPA range is 340 miles, meaning it can travel that far on a single charge. With a 516 horsepower engine, it can accelerate 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.1 seconds.
The EQS 450+ is less expensive and slightly slower. It starts at about $102,000 and accelerates to 60 miles per hour in 5.9 seconds. Its EPA range is 350 miles.
The EQS faces stiff competition from existing electric vehicles in the market, some of which have longer ranges or higher horsepower. But Schmidt said the EQS is "the best package."
"It is the vehicle that offers the luxury, the quality, the safety, and the performance that our customers expect and certainly [for the] customers that are willing to come new into the brand," he said.
The Biden administration has an ambitious vision for electric vehicles. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocates $7.5 billion toward electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
"We're going to put IBEW members and other union members to work installing a national network of charging stations along our roads and highways in our communities — over 500,000," Biden said during a media appearance on a tour of the GM plant in Detroit.
Biden also announced a goal in August that half of the vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 will be electric.
Although Schmidt would not comment on the feasibility of the president's goals, he did say Mercedes-Benz is up to the challenge.
"We have the product offering, we have the dealer network and the partnerships to cope with these numbers. And of course, we appreciate the tailwind that we're seeing there from an infrastructure side," Schmidt said.
Updated on December 6, 2021, at 4:43 p.m. ET with a correction adding hyphens to "Mercedes-Benz."
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
