Steady-made comfort

Mercedes's EQS SUV 580 is refined and unexpectedly tranquil. Driving down Hyderabad's Ring Road never felt better

- HORMAZD SORABJEE

The auto industry loves surprises, and MercedesBenz just delivered a big one. Barely a month after launching the Maybach EQS SUV-a model many assumed would be their last foray into the ultrahigh-end EV market-Mercedes dropped another bombshell with the EQS SUV 580 4 Matic. But the real surprise was the price. At just 1.41 crore, the EQS SUV is an unexpected value offering in the luxury EV space.

It's to make amends for the EQS, Mercedes's electric sedan, which hasn't found many takers because of its radical design, poor ground clearance and compromised back seat.

Mercedes's electric SUV does have the same design as the EQS but it's taller, bigger and has a blanked-off grille finished in glossy black with small, precision-cut three-pointed stars embedded in the surface.