KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — Mercedes-Benz has showcased its fully electric EQC SUV in Malaysia and it’s also its first premiere in the South-east Asian region. While Mercedes-Benz has enjoyed tremendous support for its plug-in hybrid vehicles, the EQC 400 4MATIC is their first ever model under its fully electric EQ family.

As announced during the event, Malaysia will be the first country to receive the fully-electric SUV and it will be available from 2020. According to Paul Tan, the EQC 400 4Matic is expected to retail from RM600,000.

According to Mercedes-Benz, the EQC is an electric car that’s 100 per cent Mercedes and you can expect a high level of quality, safety and comfort that’s associated with the German brand. The all-wheel-drive vehicle comes with two electric motors located at the front and rear axles which produces an output of 300kW (402hp) and 760Nm of torque. It can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.1 seconds and it has a top speed of 180km/h.

A full charge of its 80kWh Lithium-ion battery is rated to provide an electric driving range of up to 450km. Using the onboard 7.4kW charger, the vehicle can be charged in 11 hours using a normal AC power outlet. With a DC fast charger, the EQC can be charged up quickly from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in just 40 minutes.

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The EQC 400 4MATIC is Mercedes-Benz’s first-ever model under its fully electric EQ family. — SoyaCincau pic
The EQC 400 4MATIC is Mercedes-Benz’s first-ever model under its fully electric EQ family. — SoyaCincau pic

The EQC is a five-seater that’s based on the Mercedes-Benz GLC and the German automaker is calling it a crossover SUV. According to Mercedes-Benz, it has a coupe-like roof recess at the rear which puts in right between an SUV and an SUV coupe. The boot has a capacity of 500 litres.

Up front, the vehicle gets a large back-panel surface which encloses the headlamps and large grill that houses a huge three-pointed star. It also comes with a MULTIBEAM LED headlamps that feature contrasting blue stripes which indicates that this is an EQ series vehicle.

On the inside, you’ll get Mercedes-Benz’s latest cockpit design that’s both modern and high-tech. The dashboard has a 10.25″ display for the driver’s instrument cluster and another unit for its centre console that runs on MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) system. The MBUX system can be linked to your smartphone and as usual, you can also control it via voice command by saying “Hey Mercedes”.

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To stand out from the other models, they have added several unique details such as rose gold plated key-shaped aircon vents and sweeping ribbed lines that flow throughout the top section of the dashboard.

Included as standard is a host of Driving Assistance features which include Distronic adaptive cruise control, active steering assistant with lane change assistant and active emergency stop assistant, active brake assistant, evasive steering assistant, active lane keep assist, active blind blond assist and a pedestrian warning system. — SoyaCincau