SIZZLING SPORTS SEDAN FOR THE EV GENERATION

MERCEDES-AMG EQE53

- ALEX INWOOD

READY FOR some headline figures? If you spec your 2023 Mercedes-AMG EQE53 with the Dynamic Plus package it will produce 505kW and 1000Nm. Dial in launch control and despite weighing in at more than 2.5 tonnes, you’ll rocket from 0-100km/h in 3.3sec.

And finally, the price. If you decide to purchase an EQE53 when it arrives in Australia later this year, you’ll need to fork over around $200,000. That’s a huge amount of money but, weirdly, it also makes this electric Benz something of a bargain when you compare it with its rivals.

Want the same degree of potency and acceleration in a Porsche Taycan? Prepare to hand over $150K more for a Turbo S. And if you measure the EQE against its combustion-powered sibling, the AMG E63 S, the petrol-powered sedan costs around $50K more, is almost a full generation older, and is 50kW/150Nm down.

Frame it this way and the EQE53 is suddenly an intriguing proposition, but there are even deeper questions at play, too. Just like its competitors, AMG is starting to embrace electrification but somehow it feels a more seismic shift for the brand from Affalterbach. An AMG without a menacing V8 soundtrack? It’s like Nike with no Swoosh. Top Gun with no Cruise. So can an electric super sedan deliver the same sense of excitement and character we’ve come to expect from AMG? Let’s find out.

The car I’ve been talking about until now is the flagship EQE53 with the Dynamic Plus package – but if that sounds a little too intense for your liking, Mercedes will also offer a ‘regular’ EQE53 with ‘just’ 460kW and 950Nm.