Mercedes-Benz said on Thursday that the latest version of its least expensive sedan would be available first as an all-electric car and then as a hybrid. And the company will no longer sell a gasoline-only version of the car.
That’s a big break from how Mercedes and other established carmakers have typically operated. Until recently, most automakers adapted vehicles designed for fossil fuels to be powered by batteries. The Mercedes sedan, the CLA, which the company unveiled in Rome with the rapper will.i.am, is an example of how at least some established carmakers are developing electric cars first, then adapting them for customers who still want a gasoline engine.
The CLA, the first of more than two dozen Mercedes vehicles that will use the same basic technology, is a sign that many global carmakers are placing a priority on electric vehicles even as Republicans in the United States try to roll back Biden-era legislation that was intended to promote battery technology.
Yet faced with uncertain demand for electric vehicles and unpredictable government policies, Mercedes is tempering its bets by offering hybrids, which pair traditional gasoline engines with relatively small batteries and electric motors.
“If the world is not dominant electric by 2030, we as Mercedes-Benz, as an established manufacturer, we cannot walk away from a significant part of our revenues,” Ola Källenius, the chief executive of Mercedes, said in an interview in Rome. “So indeed, you could call it a hedge.”
Mercedes did not disclose a price for the new CLA, but said it would be affordable for owners of the current version, which starts at $45,000 in the United States. Eventually some of the components from the car will be used in sport utility vehicles and a station wagon.
The company decided to introduce the all-electric CLA first in the belief that advances in technology are tackling the reasons that people hesitate to buy electric cars, including inadequate driving range between charges and time to refuel.
“We have addressed all that with the new CLA,” Markus Schäfer, a member of the Mercedes management board responsible for technology, said during a meeting with reporters.
Some versions of the CLA can travel almost 500 miles between charges, and when using high-voltage chargers can add more than 200 miles of range in 10 minutes. The hybrid version will get most of its power from a gasoline engine but be able to travel short distances solely on battery power.
The United States, where the car will be available at the end of the year, is critical for Mercedes, which produces sport utility vehicles in Alabama. But China, where electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles account for more than half of new car sales, is the world’s largest auto market and increasingly sets the tone for the industry.
Like almost all foreign automakers, Mercedes has seen its sales fall in China as customers switch to electric vehicles built by domestic manufacturers like BYD.
Sales of electric vehicles rose 35 percent in China in January and February from a year earlier, according to Rho Motion, a research firm. That compares with increases of 20 percent in Europe and 20 percent in the United States and Canada. The figures include plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Sales growth in the United States has sped up this year, possibly because people are buying electric vehicles while they can still collect tax credits of up to $7,500, which Republican leaders in Congress have said they intend to abolish.
The new CLA illustrates the rapid progress carmakers are making in battery technology. It is the first vehicle sold by Mercedes with a battery in which some of the graphite has been replaced with silicon oxide. The switch helps increase the amount of energy the battery can hold, extending the car’s range.
The cars also show how artificial intelligence is infiltrating automobiles. Drivers can ask the car to find a charger that is near, say, a good Italian restaurant.
Among the apps in the vehicle’s digital dashboard is RAiDiO.FYI, created by will.i.am, who is a software entrepreneur in addition to leading the Black Eyed Peas.
The service uses artificial intelligence to let people to ask questions during programming, a kind of personalized call-in radio.
“You could ask: ‘Hey, so Rihanna has a makeup line I heard. Can you tell me where to buy it based on where I’m at right now? And does she have any products for my cocoa skin complexion?’” will.i.am said at the Mercedes event. “And it will guide you and tell you where it’s at.”