ALTER EGO

The Mercedes-Benz EQB is an electrified GLB — and a mighty fine SUV

- Pablo Chaterji

It’s no secret that electric vehicles are the in thing in India, and an impressive array of them are available, catering to every budget, need and want. You can buy everything from a tiny urban runabout to a fast-and-furious sportscar, but if you wanted an electric, seven-seat people-hauler you were curiously out of luck — until now. The Mercedes-Benz EQB is essentially the electric version of the seven-seat GLB that you will read about elsewhere in this issue, and both cars were conveniently made available during the media drives in the hills of Kodaikanal (well, it would have been odd had they not, since Mercedes-Benz India was launching them simultaneously).

Here’s the low-down. Mercedes is betting big on EVs, and it feels that there’s plenty of scope for them in the upper echelons of the price game. The EQB, for example, will likely come in around ₹75 to ₹80 lakh, which isn’t chump change, but it will be a bargain compared to the giant EQC (I’ve touched upon Merc’s confusing alphabet game elsewhere in the issue, so I won’t go into it again). It’ll be a part of Merc’s growing EV range, consisting of cars like the EQC and the EQS, and will duke it out with competition from the likes of BMW, Volvo, and even Kia — but it’ll be the only one offering seven seats.