It seems that production slowdown fears for the Mercedes-Benz EQC electric SUV have been alleviated as the German Automaker has expressed that building the car has been a “learning curve” but they have been getting it right.
Production pauses have already hit both Jaguar with their I-Pace and Audi with e-tron, so it wasn’t far fetched to think that Mercedes would have to cut the production of their EQC since they all share LG Chem as their battery supplier. But Mercedes R&D boss Markus Schafer had stated that Mercedes does still have numbers in mind for the electric SUV.
“It’s definitely a new game, dealing with new platforms, dealing with an EV. The issue was not driven by the factory or production process but rather from the battery factory and battery equipment. For sure, this was a learning curve and in a new field. But this is one out of 45 [models] and is not the rule.”
While battery shortages did seem to be an issue like it has been for Mercedes’ competitors, it seems that it has been put under control.
“The ramping up of the battery plant with €700m investment in LG Chem (which supplies EQC batteries) was definitely a challenge and limiting factor. So far, we have overcome the issues and are planning significant numbers for the EQC – returning to the initial number of 50,000 we expected for this year.”
Schafer would go on to say that like with all things, events such as the current Coronavirus can negatively impact production, but he says that “everything that is in our hands has been done to secure stable output of the EQC.”
Hopefully we’ll be able to see the EQC make its US debut eventually.
Source: Autocar
