Mercedes unveils electric vehicle with longer range than any Tesla as China threat grows

Mercedes-Benz Group AG unveiled an electric vehicle with a longer range than any Tesla Inc. model on the market as the German luxury-car maker intensifies its bid to challenge Elon Musk.

The company presented a near-production concept of its CLA sedan rated to go more than 750 kilometers (466 miles) on a single charge, beating Tesla’s refreshed Model 3. The car is Mercedes’s first based on its upcoming EV underpinnings, with a battery system that can add 400 kilometers of range in just 15 minutes of charging.

“We’re taking it to the next level,” Mercedes Chief Technology Officer Markus Schäfer said Sunday in an interview ahead of the IAA car show in Munich. “This car is extremely important for innovation reasons and to push the limits for what we can do with a series car.”

Mercedes is under pressure to bolster its lineup after disappointing sales in China forced the company to cut prices on some of its electric models.

Mercedes is trying to fend off Tesla and bolster sales in China, where customers are increasingly going for homegrown brands such as BYD Co. and Nio Inc. that have been better at building EVs with software geared to local tastes. The company has a goal to sell only EVs where possible by the end of this decade and plans to set up eight battery factories with partners.

Ref: Mercedes unveils electric vehicle with longer range than any Tesla as China threat grows (fortune)