WTF is WLTP?

Europe has abandoned its old 1980s-era fuel use test procedures for a new set that it believes will give potential buyers more realistic fuel use and emissions figures. The Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure, which will apply to all new cars registered in Europe from September 2018, aims to help car makers meet a tough new Eu-mandated emissions target of 95g/km of carbon dioxide by 2021. The new test includes driving at four different speeds, and is averaged across the vehicle’s lightest and heaviest versions.

Hermsen as he drives through the Spanish desert.

Beneath the camo-dazzle wrap, the proportions, form and size of the production EQC are very similar to the 2016 Paris motor show Concept EQ. It’s a more conventional SUV wagon shape than Model X or I-pace.

Hermsen says early development prototypes used the bodywork of the GLC, and the fiveseat interior appears as spacious as Mercedes’ medium SUV. The rear seat has good head and knee room and an eyeball estimate of cargo compartment size is around 600 litres.

Black cloth covered most interior details, but the EQC will have a widescreen display similar to that in the recent E-, S- and allnew A-class. Its steering wheel is Mercedes’ new three-spoke design, incorporating cruise control buttons, plus touch pads for navigation through menus on both sides of its big display. A sly peek beneath the cover revealed new face-level air vents, not the turbine-look circular outlets seen in recent Mercedes models. So you can count on the EQC having an interior style all its own.

Hermsen says the EQC lacks the ground clearance for off-roading. This seems to have given Mercedesbenz’s chassis engineers freedom to focus on its on-road handling.

Even from the passenger seat, it’s clear the EQC has the same ferocious off-the-line surge as other powerful all-wheel-drive EVS. It feels close to Jaguar I-pace quick. The suspension irons out road irregularities very nicely and the handling seems well balanced.

Our morning spent riding with Hermsen includes a visit to a racetrack, the Circuito de Almeria. He drives a couple of quick laps, often with the prototype’s 20inch Pirelli Scorpion Verde tyres screaming. The EQC feels more agile than something so heavy has any right to be. And there’s no mistaking the chassis’ inherent balance and stability.

Mercedes-benz Australia expects the first EQCS to roll onto our docks very late in 2019. After this brief encounter we know the EV wearing the three-pointed star has the speed and skills of a Spaghetti Western hero.