Mercedes illuminated grilles here to stay as brand aligns EV and ICE design

Mercedes has started down a path of aligning the design of its ICE and EV models, starting with its all-new electric GLC. According to Mathias Geisen, Merc’s board member for sales and marketing, this plan has been formulated to give buyers a choice of powertrain without being forced into or out of Merc’s more traditional design language at the same time. 

However, this decision was only made in the middle of the new GLC’s development, when the brand redesigned the car’s front end with its attention-grabbing illuminated grille. Speaking with Auto Express, Geisen told us: “We update products in [their] development all the time. But I would rather be focused on what we have right now.

“When we launched the first EV,” he said, “we were under the impression that customers are very focused on having a differentiated design between a battery electric [car] and one with a combustion engine.

“What we have learnt over the years,” Geisen told us, “is that our customers say, ‘Hey guys, we like your design, but we’d like to decide whether to have an electric powertrain or a combustion powertrain,’ so that’s indeed something that you’ll see going forward.”

This means we’ll see the end of Merc’s pebble-shaped EVs like the EQS and EQE, with the brand instead taking a similar direction to BMW by creating two similar-looking models with distinct differences under the skin. This will also be the case for the new electric C-Class that we’ll see in 2026, as well as a new electric E-Class that will be available sometime after. 

Reiterating this point, Markus Schafer, Merc’s board member for research and development, told us: “With the skin, we want it to look the same, and for our MBUX system, too, but under the skin the two cars are completely different. We could do the one platform for our MMA models because of their transverse engine-layout, but when you have a longitudinal engine, it just doesn’t work.”

So expect big grilles on Mercedes’s future models no matter what powertrain is mounted behind them – whether you like them or not.

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