Mercedes unveils production version of ECQ EV

Mercedes EQC

Mercedes showed on Tuesday how it is “aggressively" gunning for top spot in upscale battery cars market currently dominated by Tesla, as it unveiled the EQC, its first fully electric car, at an event in Stockholm.

The event marks the start of the German onslaught against the American upstart and showcased a SUV with a 450 kilometer range, distinctively full-width rear light and clean-cut interiors that Mercedes hopes will find favor with luxury customers and tech-savvy millennials alike.

Daimler aims to have up to 10 electrified car variants by 2022, a target reiterated on Tuesday by Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, who hopes the EQC and its other electric cars will account for 15-25 percent of its sales by 2025.

The Germans are now introducing their Tesla fighters as consumers are beginning to adopt electric cars on a larger scale, driven by regulations that are making their diesel-guzzling variants more expensive and electric cars becoming cheaper and easier to own.