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Jay Leno Drives a Mercedes EQC Ahead of Everybody Else in America

Rather than fork out big bucks for a super bowl ad or Marvel movie cameo, Mercedes decided to put its first bespoke electric car in from of America's car-loving audience via Jay Leno's Garage. Good job!
Jay Leno Drives Mercedes EQC Ahead of Everybody Else in America 45 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot/Jay Leno's Garage
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Since this is a prototype, not all the specs are fleshed, at least not for the U.S. market. But Mercedes engineer Bastian Schult says that the EQC will arrive in showroom around 2020, so Leno is getting treated to something special.

Preliminary specs for the dual-motor EQC 400 suggest it has about 400 horsepower and 564 pound-feet of torque, which is enough for 0-60 mph acceleration in 4.9 seconds. The range is a bit dicey at the moment, but it's believed the 80 kWh battery will last for a bit over 200 miles once the EPA gets a hold of it.

This is just the beginning, though. Mercedes has invested $12 billion into the development of electric cars. There will be a compact EQA and a flagship EQS four-door coupe. And as the company official states in the video, the 10 pure EV models which will arrive by 2020 will be joined by plenty plug-ins and mild-hybrids, over a hundred in total.

Leno argues that he always believed the electric car market was only going to get serious once Mercedes got in on the action. But we can't ignore the fact that Jaguar and Audi also have an electric crossover, with BMW's not that far behind.

The denim man also inquired Schult about the pricing of the EQC, to which he replied that it costs about the same as the Mercedes-AMG GLC 43, which starts at $56,250 for the regular SUV body style and $60,400 for coupe models. Still, the official may have been talking about the European model, which would put the EQC closer to $70,000, but that's still not bad for a Mercedes.

In the driving portion of his review, Leno seemed to be impressed by the acceleration and dead-quiet cabin. However, the EQC is more of a luxury car and not a ballistic Tesla drag racer.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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