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HOT FOUR #1 TAKING CHARGE OF LUXURY

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Mercedes-Benz EQC400

The two mantras at the Mercedes-Benz HQ are Progressive Luxury and Sensual Purity, both of which seem to have distilled quite well in the EQC. Even though it looks familiar to the GLC in silhouette, the face wears new design elements that will be seen on future EQ vehicles too. Blue strips inside the LED headlamp casing, a wide grille lashed with chrome and a LED strip that runs across and a gloss black plastic trim to connect the headlights together. The sharp shoulder line on the standard GLC is replaced by cleaner bodywork. If you want to make an entry looking like Tron, the EQC just replaced the Audi R8 as the most sci-fi looking car in India! But the sensible bits are under the space-age suit. While the EQC is no ballet dancer at a massive 2.5tons, more than 650kgs of that weight is taken up by the 80kWh battery that sits between the front and rear axle. Technologically, the EQC makes a strong case with twin motors that develop a combined power output of 408hp and 760Nm of torque, which is beyond what most sports cars offer, not to mention it lifts its heavy skirt and sprints to 100km/hr in 5.1secs!

Tech pack Attention Assist, Active Brake Assist, Blind Spot Assist, ESC and 7 airbags are standard on this EQC400 variant along with a 360 parking camera and a 13-speaker Burmester hi-fi.

Sci-fi entry

The India-bound EQC is purposefully enhanced by the 20in EQC exclusive wheels that look appropriately sci-fi with blue strips on two-tone gloss-black painted alloys.

DRIVING IMPRESSIONS