- The Mercedes GLC EQ’s sedan equivalent was caught on camera driving through the Italian Alps this week. It will be revealed sometime next year.
- The C-Class With EQ Technology is expected to return 500 miles of range on Europe’s WLTP cycle.
- It will be a direct rival to the BMW i3, which will also be shown in 2026.
Mercedes-Benz is moving away from jellybean-shaped electric sedans, and I have the photos to prove it. While cruising through the Italian Alps this week, I saw a camouflaged C-Class EV prototype—and there’s a lot to talk about.
All the C-Class EV prototypes that I saw had their production body, showing their true proportions. Most had placeholder lights, but one prototype had its production taillights, which resembled those on the recently revealed GLC EV, complete with light-up Mercedes stars.
However, just like BMW is going to have significant differentiation between the i3 and iX3, so too is Mercedes-Benz with its electric C-Class and GLC.
Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea
Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea
From the side, the electric C-Class offers no surprises in terms of sedan design. It doesn’t have the long hood of the current W206 combustion model, though, but it still looked very good in person. Its A-pillar is closer to the front wheel, giving it proportions closer to those of a front-wheel-drive sedan. It looked like a bigger CLA with a more upright front and a less tapered rear.
After seeing two Mercedes convoys that included camouflaged C-Class prototypes on the road, I also came across one that was stationary and hooked up to a charger. It wasn’t charging at the time, so I couldn’t see how much juice it was drawing from the station, but I was able to move around the car and get a good idea of what it looks like.
It looks like it may have grown a bit compared to the W206, especially when it comes to wheelbase, and it has shorter overhangs. The front features the grille that Mercedes has already shown on the electric GLC and teased on the C-Class EV, and that will likely be the focal point of the design. However, I really liked the rear end with its subtle ducktail spoiler that’s built into the decklid.
Unlike the prototype spotted in 2023, which had extra padding on the front to hide the shape of the nose, the cars I saw clearly had the new upright (and light-up) grille.
Photo by: Andrei Nedelea
Photo by: Andrei Nedelea
Photo by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea
The wheels on the stationary prototype are a design that I haven’t seen on a Mercedes before, so they could also hint at the kinds of wheels the electric C will get in finished production guise. You can also just about make out the shape of the front lights, which are more elongated and aggressive than on the GLC and the stationary prototype also had smoked glass, a more aggressive front bumper and dark grey wheels, so it could have been an AMG pack example.
One thing’s certain: Mercedes is clearly not taking any chances with the design of the electric C-Class. It will be a far more conventional-looking car than today’s EQE and EQC, as well as the electric GLC, which I also got to see driving in the Dolomites. I’m not convinced it will be considered as unanimously pretty as the C-Class that I just saw.
Under the skin, the electric C will ride on the same 800-volt MB.EA platform as the GLC EV. It will likely have the same power and charging specs, but thanks to its lower and sleeker body, it will be quicker and travel further on one charge. The GLC’s peak charging power is rated at 330 kW, which will likely be identical in the C-Class, but the sedan will be able to surpass the GLC’s WLTP range of 443 miles (713 km) and deliver around 500 miles (800 km) on one charge.
Since Mercedes has moved away from the EQ model designation, the electric sedan will be called C-Class With EQ Technology. Mercedes-AMG is surely cooking up a hot model to rival BMW’s crazy quad-motor electric M3, but that will probably arrive sometime after the standard model makes its debut, which is expected sometime in 2026.
One of the photos in the gallery also shows a lightly camouflaged electric Porsche Cayenne Coupe in the background. Browse through the photos to find it.
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Source: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea
