Mercedes announces electric cars – but other luxury sellers like Ferrari and Lamborghini are lagging behind

Top line

Mercedes-Benz unveiled its first electric vehicle on Thursday, but some of its luxury counterparts, including Ferrari and Lamborghini, are lagging behind on their all-electric debuts despite the EU mandating tightened environmental targets on emissions.

Mercedes Benz new EV, the EQS,

MBUSA.com

Key factors

On Thursday, German luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz announced that its first electric car, the EQS, is expected to compete directly with the Tesla Model S and Porsche Taycan when it goes on sale in 2022.

Earlier Thursday, Ferrari chairman John Elkann said the Italian luxury car maker was planning to launch its own electric vehicle, but not until 2025.

Some other European luxury car brands, Audi, BMW, Porsche and Jaguar, have already presented their first electric car models or are planning to do so soon.

Another major European luxury brand, Lamborghini, owned by the Volkswagen Group, has also not yet announced the development of a fully electric vehicle.

Key background

Mercedes-Benz, a Daimler AG company, plans to get the EQS on the road next year in order to generate half of its total sales with electric vehicles by 2030. Ferrari has taken a longer path purely electric – as recently as April 2016, its former CEO Sergio Marchionne rejected the idea that his company would ever develop an electric vehicle and called the concept “obscene”, citing among other things the noise of the internal combustion engine ( ICE) was one of the attractions while driving a Ferrari sports car. At the end of 2019, Marchionne’s successor, Louis Camilleri, said that, citing the further development of its battery technology, a Ferrari electric car would arrive – but only after 2025. Now Ferrari has postponed this schedule a little. Brad Gastwirth, chief technology strategist at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles, told Forbes that Ferrari and Lamborghini have likely delayed their entry because it takes time to get it right. “Better to take your time and get it right than hurry up and look bad,” he added. “Obviously, they weren’t expecting consumer support for these types of luxury vehicles.”

tangent

Matthias Schmidt, automotive analyst at Schmidt Automotive Research in Berlin, told Forbes that some luxury automakers like Ferrari and Lamborghini have made such profits from ICE vehicles that they had little reason to switch to electric cars quickly. In fact, Lamborghini made a record $ 1.93 billion in profits last year, while Ferrari’s net income rose nearly 63% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2020.

What to look for

Gastwirth told Forbes he expects luxury automakers to boost production of electric vehicles in the coming years. “Lots of people want to eliminate gas. I expect all big luxury cars [manufacturers] to introduce electric cars at some point. We are only at the beginning. “

Big number

$ 1.2 trillion. According to Million Insights, a research firm based in San Jose, California, the global electric vehicle market is projected to be that large by 2027. This number corresponds to an average annual growth rate of 41.5% between 2020 and 2020 2027.

further reading

2022 Audi Q4 E-tron: Upscale EV offers 250-mile range for $ 45,000 (Forbes)

Biden’s infrastructure plan would give Tesla, GM, and EV (Forbes) startups a big boost

Top 5 EV Trends of 2020: The Year Electric Cars grew up (Forbes)