Mercedes killed its electric E-Class after sedan sales fell 74.5%

Mercedes-Benz sold just 2,300 EQE sedans in the first half of 2025, a 74.5% drop from the same months of 2024, according to Autoblog. The sedan, which Autoblog calls the electric E-Class, is now being discontinued after a run that began in 2023.

The 74.5% belongs to one model and one half-year: the EQE sedan, January through June 2025, against January through June 2024. It is not a 2026 sales figure, and it does not cover the EQE SUV, which was sold alongside it. The EQE is Mercedes’ electric car in the E-Class size slot, and its cancellation leaves the E-Class badge to a different electric model due later.

The 2,300-car figure and its 2024 backdrop

Autoblog’s report, Mercedes killed its electric E-Class after just three years on sale, puts the model run at 2023 through 2027 and cites a Mercedes spokesperson who spoke with Car and Driver about the discontinuation. The text read does not name the data source behind the 2,300-car figure or state which market it covers, so it is best read as Autoblog’s number for the first half of 2025, not an official Mercedes statement.

The earlier year was weak too. Combined EQE sedan and SUV sales fell 39% in 2024, to 11,660 units from 19,104 the year before, according to the same report and to EV Magazine’s account of the first reports of the model’s end. A 39% fall in 2024 followed by a 74.5% fall in the sedan alone in the first half of 2025 describes a model losing buyers in two consecutive periods. The two figures should not be chained into one cumulative decline, because one covers the whole EQE range for a full year and the other covers only the sedan for six months.

The Autoblog piece frames the three-year run as short, and the count supports it only loosely: the EQE arrived for the 2023 model year, so even the 2027 end date in Autoblog’s account would leave it on sale for roughly four model years, and the 2026 end Autocar reported would leave it shorter still.

Autocar’s 2026 production-end report

The model’s end was first reported in 2025. Autocar reported that production of the EQE saloon and SUV would end in 2026, to be replaced by a C-Class EQ saloon arriving that year and a GLC EQ SUV, both on Mercedes’ new 800V MB.EA-M platform. At that time a Mercedes spokesperson cited the company’s policy of not commenting on speculation about current and future models, so the manufacturer did not confirm the report then. EV Powered likewise described the end as reported but not yet officially confirmed, and noted that the saloon was built at the Bremen plant in Germany and the SUV at Tuscaloosa in the United States. It also recalled that Mercedes had paused U.S. EQE production and offered large discounts as early as July 2025, which preceded any formal announcement by many months and fits the sedan’s falling sales.

Reasons cited by the outlets differ in emphasis but overlap. Auto123, drawing on Autocar, pointed to low sales and overlap within Mercedes’ electric lineup, and said the AMG versions’ limited range, 354 km for the sedan, hobbled them against rivals. It listed the EQE sedan at $76,050 and the SUV at $94,900, with AMG versions above $100,000.

C-Class EQ, GLC EQ and the 800V platform

The replacements are electric versions of established nameplates instead of a separate EQ family, which is a change in how Mercedes labels and positions its electric cars as much as a change in which models it builds. EV Magazine says a C-Class EQ is due in 2026 and an electric E-Class in 2027, which is consistent with Autoblog’s 2027 end of the model run and with Autocar’s earlier 2026 production end: the outlets disagree on the last model year, though not on the direction.

The platform choice matters here. The new 800V MB.EA-M architecture underpins the C-Class EQ and GLC EQ in Autocar’s account, and Autocar added that a planned mid-life EQE update with 800V upgrades would instead go only to the larger EQS. For owners of the discontinued EQE, that reporting points to no facelift for the car, while the improved hardware goes to the flagship EQS and to the newer C-Class and GLC electric models.

The open point in the record is why Mercedes did not say more. Autoblog’s report quotes the company only through a spokesperson speaking to Car and Driver, and no sales rationale from Mercedes appears in that account, so the 74.5% decline remains a number reported alongside the cancellation instead of the company’s stated reason for it.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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