We Drive The EQS Concept

WHY WAIT SEVERAL YEARS TO KNOW WHAT AN ELECTRIC MERCEDES S-CLASS WILL BE LIKE? WE SLIP BEHIND THE VELVET ROPE AND JUMP IN FOR AN EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW

- Andrew Chesterton

WHAT’S ABOUT TO happen is incredibly rare. In fact, it’s almost unheard of. And if we’re being totally honest, that’s what makes it so damn terrifying.

You find Wheels deep in the heart of chaotic Tokyo, staring open-mouthed at the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQS, the futuristic EV saloon that had, only weeks before, rolled onto the stage of the Frankfurt motor show.

We were in Germany for that moment, too, but our mouths then had remained firmly shut even as the EV answer to the Mercedes-Benz S-Class slinked silently onto the stage, accompanied by all the hype and fanfare typical of any major motor show reveal. It had looked special, sure, but pressed up against that glitzy and glamorous backdrop, not exceptional.

But this? This is different, because now the EQS is parked in a grimy downtown warehouse, its bright fluorescent interior lighting bouncing off the walls, giving the cavernous space a kind of Christmas-tree glow. It looks massively out of place. Despite sharing its dimensions, more or less, with an S-Class, it also looks just plain massive. And it’s breathtaking.

That it’s now in Japan isn’t the rare bit. The Tokyo motor show is days away at this point and Benz, hoping to extract maximum bang from the huge bucks that went into creating this one-of-just-one EV, will again display the EQS on its stand. Nope, the rare bit is that, nestled in my increasingly sweaty palm, is the key to Benz’s one-off creation. And I’ve just been told to jump into the driver’s seat.

What would it be worth? Theoretically, it’s priceless. But when pushed for a ballpark manufacturing cost, Benz’s design team will only answer that it was “several million euros”, and that’s without fully tallying up the many, many man hours that have been sunk into its construction.