Daimler must’ve gone long on stock in Glade, as they’ve announced that they’ll be releasing a new plug-in-hybrid Mercedes about every four months as we lurch toward 2017. The S500 plug-in, out this spring, will be the first, followed by the C350e that comes this fall—the lowercase-e suffix set to replace Benz’ all-caps “PLUG-IN HYBRID” appellation.
Mercedes-Benz C350e
A plug-in GLE—the GLEe!—is up next, and the GLK replacement, the GLC, also will go the plug-in route. Those two will pair the technology with 4MATIC, whereas the S- and the C-class are rear-wheel drive. Given that there’s a plug-in S and a plug-in C, it does stand to reason that the E-class also will get the treatment.
Mercedes has said there will be 10 in all, but the remaining count gets murkier. Mercedes has talked about a V-class plug-in van. Might it be called the “Metrise”? If would if it were sold here, but we’re told the plug-in variant likely stays in Europe. So, too the wagon versions of the C and the E—damn. The GLE Coupe could follow the regular GLE down electric avenue, but our market is likely to get that car only in muscular, hi-po variants. The tenth model could be the B-class, which already exists as a full electric, or its CLA or GLA sibling.
Clearly, though, the American market won’t see everything that Stuttgart cooks up. For us, the plug-in count won’t reach a perfect 10—more like a fine five.
Via: Car and Driver
