all-new Mercedes GLC EQ 2026 REVEAL – better than BMW iX3 or not?
Big news from Mercedes. This is an all-new Mercedes GLC,
a very unique one. Let me show you why. Pressing here the logo on the hood. You can do that, no problem. And then there is no engine. This is here the GLC EQ, as they now call
it, the EV version, because they do not differentiate between the combustion
engine names and the electric names anymore now. Huge frunk in the front, very well usable. Nice matte here even, so this shall show
the premium character. And this will be here super significant. Why? Well, the GLC combustion engine is the
most sold Mercedes model in the recent years worldwide. Two days ago, you’ve seen on our channel,
the BMW iX3 has been launched, which will really put a lot of pressure on
the premium EV market, both for SUVs and non-SUVs. And now Mercedes is launching their GLC
EV. And this has to be very significant for
them to conquer the EV market also in this very segment. And probably this one will be the major
model and not the new CLA EV, you know, because the GLC model style is sold so
much more often. But can it keep up with the promises? How is the relation between GLC EV and the
iX3? We’ll have a separate segment where we
also compare both of the electric values and so on and all the
deals you need to know now with Thomas on Autogefühl in 4k, full screen,
full length. Let’s go with a significantly new styled
front grille. This new front grille will not only define
Mercedes design language for the electric models, but for all models. And what have they done there? This is basically a citation of really
past models of Mercedes to make it really tall with the chrome frame around,
not screaming out EV but mixing the modern language with light play and so on. So here, these pixel lights, they also
dissolve when you open or close the vehicle. So basically, combining classic combustion
engine grille and a more modern grille with better aerodynamics and so on. And light features. Here, the star, this is the EU version. When you have the Northern American market
version, for example, there will also be a ring illuminated around. Why is that? There is an EU law where they forbid the
manufacturers from using the one-to-one corporate identity logo as an
illumination. Yeah, doesn’t make any sense, but they
have to comply with that. That’s just the case. So all the fans from the Northern American
market, they can be happy that they also have then the ring around illuminated. The base, base, base grille is not
illuminated. Then starting from the mid trim levels,
if you could do some clicks, you will have this illumination. This, by the way, Lavender Silver. This is a very interesting color here. And yeah, you have to say, I think it’s a
good decision with the grille, not to make it screaming out EV,
but to mix some of the worlds. The main headlamp you can see here,
optional matrix LED, which has even more light power at the same time, half of the
energy consumption. And here, once again, this strange law
again, that the Mercedes star on the inside is not… Yeah, it may not be one-to-one,
how the Mercedes star looks like. So they would have done it if they were
allowed to, actually. The length here is 4 meters 85 or 190 inches. That’s 13 centimeters or five inches
longer than the combustion engine GLC. And eight centimeters of that go to the
wheelbase, which will also have an effect on the rear passenger compartment. This one, by the way, here with these side
steps. And I mean, they look quite cool. You don’t have to take them. Interestingly, they are good for
aerodynamics and not bad for aerodynamics. By the way, here, the CD value is 0.26
with the smallest wheels, 19 inch. I will soon also compare the values. against the BMW iX3. Also the battery comparison and so on. As I said, we have a separate segment
where we do the GLC versus iX3 comparison. Wheels, as I said, 19 inch base. These here are 21 inch. The biggest ones available. Also somewhat aerodynamic siding. But of course, when the wheels are wider,
it’s worse for the overall range. We can also, by the way, on Lea’s side,
when we turn around, soon we have a second version for you. This is here the one in red with AMG Line Plus with more night package black
accentuations and so on. So this is also soon to come. But let’s start here with the,
let’s say, more realistic or lower priced one. Will it be really lower priced one? Yeah, we’ll talk about the price later as
well. This one here is only a normal AMG line,
which still has the chrome frames around. Only if you go for the night package,
then you would have these here in black. And the AMG Line Plus, soon to show you,
combines the AMG line, something on top, plus the night package. That’s the basic logic. New rear design. They have kind of a black panel design
that goes all the way through. I think this one will spark a lot of
discussion design-wise. Gotta get used to it, definitely. And once again, these star silhouettes
then on the inside. On the technology side, what else is
interesting? You get a base suspension, then an air
suspension, optional, together in a package with the 4.5 degrees in the
opposite direction, rear axle steering. We have to see if it will also be
available on all markets. Later, this info is also to come. And they combine it in this package here
for this top-end riding comfort. This is, by the way, a difference to the
BMW iX3. The GLC offers that. As was mentioned, BMW says, we want to
save weight. We want to save costs. Car’s not supposed to be too expensive. Want to have a sporty ride. So they went in a different direction
there. Why? And the exact difference is later,
once again. And you can see here in this spec,
we also have the same paint for the wheel arches. So this is a more subtle look overall. So I think visually, it works very well. To the rear, I think I have to get used
to. But in the front, I think it’s a very
interesting approach to make it not specifically, hey, you know, this is an
electric vehicle. Because they had some bad experience with
it. When you think about the EQS, the initial
EQC, and also the EQE, where people said, this is too much EV look for me. You know what I mean? Now about the EV specific things. Because that’s very important. You can see here on this side,
we don’t have anything. The charging port is on the other side. So the battery capacity. This will be crucial in the difference to
the BMW iX3. Battery capacity here, usable size,
net is 94 kilowatt hours. That is bigger with the BMW iX3. I’m gonna say that already. And charging will be quite quick. Because you, let’s see here, electric
charging flap. You will get DC charging, 800 volt
technology. And then you have a 330 kilowatt peak. And they promise a charging time from 10%
to 80% state of charge in 20 minutes. And that’s, of course, quite cool. Also for, you know, recharging on the
motorway and so on. And AC charging is 11 or optional 22
kilowatt. You might ask yourself, because there was
a topic with the CLA recently, 400 volt charging. Yes, it’s possible. Also from start of orders with this
vehicle. However, it will be depending on the country. If they make it standard. Or if you have to set an option in the
configurator. That you can also charge at these DC
charging stations. Which are not super quick. So that, yeah, that was a thing. But here at least it’s available from the
start. Or already included in, for example,
in Portugal. It will be already included. Now to the driving effects as well. This one here is the GLC 400 all-wheel
drive. One electric motor in front. One in the rear. I heard there will be some other versions
later on. For example an entry-level rear-wheel
drive version. Probably also with a smaller battery for
lower entry price and so on. This one here will accelerate in about
like four and a half seconds. Zero to 100 km or 62 miles an hour. Top speed is 210 km an hour or 130 miles
per hour. And what’s also interesting. Talked about the air suspension. If you have that and drive more than 120
km an hour, 75 miles an hour. The vehicle is lowering for better
aerodynamic efficiency. But now, they also. At least if you go for that. This special technology pack, combine it
with an option that it will be GPS dependent. For example, when the car then sees,
ah, you’re on the motorway, and you may be driving a little bit slower, like 80
kilometers an hour, 50-60 miles an hour, it will still keep it lowered and not put
it higher again. So this is also an interesting new
technology feature. This one is here now, a red vehicle with
AMG Line Plus. And very interesting to know, the other
vehicle was also the base AMG Line. And then usually, the front grille looks
like this here with this dark chrome. And you can deselect that with the AMG
Line. This is what happened on the other
vehicle. But here now, how it looks like in the AMG
Line. So with this darker chrome here. Then AMG Line Plus with black
accentuations here. For example, the frame around is also
black, because the AMG Line Plus includes the night package. And also here with black on the mirror
caps, around the window frames, and so on. The entry badge here. Or this… yeah. Actually the entry badge, yes. The entry badge is in black then in the
AMG Line Plus. And the lower sill, this is also then in
black. These are special 21-inch wheels. So overall for the more sinister look,
so to speak. And you also have here a longer rear
spoiler. In the CLA this was not that good for the
aerodynamics. But here when you make it longer,
that’s actually not a bad thing, you know. So in this case then with the GLC,
the AMG Line Plus is not… not so bad as for like the additional
parts. However, because it already includes the
large wheels, this is the main factor because the wheels are wider. This of course then bad for the overall
range. So the best range once again with the
smallest wheels. So would you go rather for this more
aggressive looking version, or rather for the Avantgarde, as they call it,
looking version. Now towards the interior in the front,
this is the key fob. Small, but good quality actually. I like it. When you approach the vehicle,
or when you open it here, or when you slide, then these flush door handles come
out. But then they’re actually manual. Door closing sound. Very solid. Like that. Sounds like good quality. Then inside of the doors, everything
wrapped here. Then you have an ambient lighting
integration. It’s cool. However, no felt covering at the inside of
the door here. Here by the way, you can also open frunk
and trunk. So this would also be possible. But yeah, the logo press is also cool. Oh! We have four window levers. So they did not go for the two window
lever solution like in the CLA. Good to know that. And here you can move the seat. And you also have this feedback,
you know. So you see that you are actually moving
it. However, the seat heating button is not
there anymore. Saw that also with the Mercedes CLA
recently. Then dual insulation here for the front. However, we only see that in the front,
but not in the rear. However, this is actually quite thick. This glass thing here. Then the steering wheel, AMG line,
two spokes. Base would look different. And then here, for the cruise control and
for the volume, like in the CLA shooting brake introduced recently again. The return of the jogs, of the physical
controls. Really good to have them. And the interesting thing is that Mercedes
calls them rocker and roller. So left side the rocker, right side. So it’s rock and roll time again. For the steering wheel. Good that we took your feedback to
Mercedes. And then they went back also for this
solution at the steering wheel. And also it’s new. It’s also available for the combustion
engine GLC actually. But this one here is also an animal free
steering wheel. So this is available. We have to select it in the configurator
and it looks the same. It feels the same. For my AMG line. Yeah. And also available for the AMG line. That’s also pretty cool. So and it’s available throughout the lines
basically. So good development as for that. And then here the seats. There are sport seats and comfort seats. These are the sport seats you can see
here. They have like more accentuation here. They’re wider there. And also on top, they have this integrated
head restraint. You can also adjust it like this. This is possible. And the comfort seat would be with a
separate head restraint and would look a little bit different. They have different materials available. Artico, the high-grade leatherette would
be standard in the UK and US. In Germany, we can also get the fabric mix, for example. Or this one in here, the microfiber on the
middle part. This is then here for the AMG line. You can also extend this front part. And these seats are sporty and rather a
little bit stiffer. We have to test the comfort seat at a
later stage. This will be very important to see and to
be able to compare it also to the iX3 because from the first seating impression
here on the sport seats, the iX3 has better seating comfort. I have to keep you updated on that. Again, we have to test them the comfort
seat later on. Welcome to this all-new interior. And the most obvious thing is this new
Hyperscreen, which is really one screen without the bezel in the middle. There are bezels top and bottom,
but this is really one screen, 39-inch going all the way through. This is once again an option because the
base would be 10-inch instruments, separated screens, and then 14-inch here
and 14-inch on the passenger. Now it gets even more exciting. This is German option car logic. So the base set 10-inch, 14-inch,
14-inch. And then on the right side, as in the base
version, there is already a screen, but you can only pick between 12
background images. And only if you go for the next option,
then the right passenger monitor is fully functional. It’s like the same logic with the EQS or
S-Class rear-axle steering, where you buy the rear-axle steering, but only the full
degree unlock is the software unlock, you know? Yeah, I think that’s not good for the
customer relation. Let’s take it that way. However, most GLCs which are spec’d will
already come with the full functional monitor because it’s only the base base
version, which has this background. Still, I don’t think it’s a good decision
for the customer. And then optional, optional, the full
Hyperscreen with 39-inch. And that looks really cool that you have
it all the way through. And not these large bezels in the middle
part. We can soon play around with this a little
bit. Another thing is here, the roof. You get standard glass roof, which already
has like heat protection. And this is the optional roof with the
option of ambient lighting stars in the middle, you can see. And this is also done with the
electrochrome function, where you can change it here, but only in the screen or
with voice control. That’s also possible. So for example, you can have this,
not making sense style, because this is just to see like how it works. But no one would actually do that,
I think. You would either put it all the way
closed, like this. So then you have like the least glare
effect, or you make it all the way clear like this. And the ambient lighting color also
changes according to the rest of the scheme. And you can change ambient styles here. For example, you can go for AMG lighting,
you have it more red integrated. You can go for polar night, for example. Cosmic glow. Well, I think of cosmic gate then. Or big surf. Then you have here this wave design. And you can also have like really visible
like this. And you can also see the ambient lighting
in this river hoop here changes around and also changes once again in the roof. So yeah, very nicely done visually,
definitely. And you can also quickly change between
the GPS, the car internal GPS here. It also like blends to the sides. And you can see here, not sure if it’s
just in the studio here, if it’s then quicker in the final version, this main
infotainment unit. The climate unit in the lower part,
no physical interaction. But you can see the ambient lighting moves
together with that. This is always a very cool effect. And we have nice vents here in the turbine
style, also with clicking sounds. So this is always a spectacular effect. And here, not so much high gloss,
black, this is a cool thing. Let me just deactivate this one here. So here we have this tech mesh design. I would call it that way. Different decor styles are available. Manual volume jog. At least have this one already. One button here also for the voice
control. And these are middle air vents. You can also control them manually. They’re also nice. Inductive charging pads, left and right. And they are also actively cooled. Cup holders are here active. They’re better for coffee mugs,
however, for tall bottles, not that good. But I can feel, we’re going to test it
with the heavier bottles, because I feel that the resistance is a little bit
stronger than it was before. And then here, split armrest with some
space underneath. Yeah, there’s some good space underneath,
definitely. There we go. Good clicking sounds. And to start the vehicle, here,
press this button like in a like on-off switch. This is basically the ignition switch. Headroom here with 189/6’2″. There’s a lot of headroom left here in the
front. And here, the steering wheel electrically
up and down, in and out. We do have shifting paddles. And also, the shifting lever can be pushed
forward and backward. In the CLA you don’t have the shifting paddles,
but then the recuperation is here. We have to see how it is here. Since we have shifting paddles,
I would suspect that we have the recuperation in here on the shifting
paddles again. And you also have this head-up display
case, here, in front. Driver POV, once again, here with the
real, physical dials on the steering wheel like to
have that view to the digital instruments, look like this, and you can also get this
head-up displa. Tou can see also the transitions here, then the car menu,
this is where you control the roof then with the individual tiles, for example,
and yeah, this is the main menu with the main items, you can also play Angry Birds,
seen it introduced with the Mercedes E-Class, for example. Oh, yes,
very important, thanks to Lea! Here you can deactivate this EU speed
chime, doesn’t show at the moment, but it should still also work with press,
yeah, press and holding the volume or mute button, they can also activate or
deactivate it. And by the way, this is the interior
camera where you can take photos, for whatever reason you would do that,
thanks, Lea, for filming in this really hot studio here today, and she’s also
handing a light, telling the story. Telling the scary story with the light
from below. And seat heating, and here the heated steering wheel is where you have to
press here, and then you go into the deeper menu here and here, and this is
where we would also have the seat cooling, if you have the Artico seat, it’s also
available with active seat cooling, not available for microfiber. Rear seats, inside here is everything
covered, interesting integration of the Burmester sound system, by the way,
hard package, here only the lower inside of the doors, by the way, here,
interesting, the seat heating for the rear seats is integrated right here,
that’s an interesting idea, and then here, legroom, yeah, you do profit from this
longer wheelbase here in the GLC EV, definitely, so that’s enough. And headroom
here is a little bit closer to the side, but here to the glass roof, that’s also
enough with 189, 6 foot 2, and this one here is at the moment the closed layer,
so to speak, of this electro-chrome panoramic roof. And then here, in the middle part,
we can go down here, these cupboards, they are also somewhat adaptive. And the overall seating comfort is okay,
as I said, the seat economics and the material here is kind of stiff,
maybe the Artico is a little bit softer, we have to test it at a later stage. Then the interior here, not completely
flat bottom, but rather, and two USB-C chargers. Trunk or boot, here we flip the
logo here, and by the way, if you listen really close, this is an external speaker
giving you some spaceship sound. CLA also has that, for example. You can deactivate it. Just want to show you that it is possible
if you want to be space-shipped while you’re standing at the vehicle. Okay, about that. Then let’s take a look at the 570 liters. This one can be folded up. This one fits in easily. Then here the width. This is a meter of 40 inches. You can see it’s a little bit wider than
that. The length here is also a meter or 40
inches. Yeah, this plastic cover right here. I’m not sure why this is not covered here. But they made this one as one piece. Showing you why. Here, because you can set it even a little
bit lower. And there’s even more space underneath. That’s cool, actually. And then from this lower position here,
the maximum height is about 35 inches or 77 centimeters. And what’s also pretty cool, and I like
Mercedes for that, here you can have an easy remote folding. There we go. And then we have the total length to the
front seats with about 72 inches or 1.83 or 1.85 meters. So very well usable, definitely. And you can see between normal GLC and GLC
Coupe, it more goes into the normal GLC direction here, definitely. And yeah, with this remote folding
mechanism, that’s better than the BMW iX… BMW iX3, for example. And now a very exciting part. What about the comparison GLC EQ versus
the BMW iX3? So when we think about what is the unique
selling point here, first of all, from the design, at least in the front,
it doesn’t look that much electric. And that might be something important for
a lot of car buyers. Then on the comfort side, I mean,
this one here offers the optional air suspension. This is something unique to it. And the rear-axle steering, which is
really interesting for maneuverability in the basement garage and so on. So this is not offered by BMW. Probably this one will also then go higher
in the price a little bit. For BMW, we do have the prices,
which will be around 60 to 80,000 euros, low to high spec, small to big battery and
so on. We do not have the exact prices for the GLC
yet. But considering that they have a longer
option list and also some more features like the air suspension and rear-axle
steering, we expect a wider price span and also in general a little bit higher price
than what we mentioned for the BMW. We’ll keep you updated on that. Then about the EV facts, there we gotta
say that when you just think about the range and efficiency thing, the BMW iX3
has obviously a lead on that because battery difference here from the two big
batteries is 14 kilowatt hours. So here it was as 94 and with BMW it was
at 108. And this is significant. Plus the BMW 0.24 in the CD value,
this here 0.26, only in the like best specs each. But overall, the WLTP figure, like the
official driving cycle, is 700 kilometers here for the GLC and 800 kilometers for
the iX3. So 100 kilometers or 60 miles difference. The realistic range figures, if you think,
hey, what could be a real world case and not the official driving figure,
would be more like here 550 kilometers, 340-350 miles and then rather towards 400
miles and 640 kilometers for the BMW. So this will be like the crucial
difference. This one here offers the more comfort
features for suspension. The iX3 will drive longer, will be a
little bit more efficient and also just bigger in the battery size. That’s what we expect from the biggest
differences so far. And as soon as we know the price for you,
you can also take it in the video description and so on or make like a
separate small post about it. We’ll keep you updated with all the details
you need to know. And of course, I’m really, really looking
forward to drive this one because the concise comparison between iX3 and GLC,
we can then do when we could both drive the vehicles, when we can drive both
vehicles and then make a final verdict about it. But it’s really interesting because
overall, there is more power coming from the German automotive industry. Again, both of these vehicles are hot
hitters in the EV segment, not only the SUVs, but the electric vehicles in
general. And it’s also important that not only the
design language, but also the whole technology. This is not only about the GLC EQ or the
electric GLC, but also about all the next electric vehicles like a new electric
E-Class, a new electric S-Class will all be based on this, what we see here today,
also with the interior and so on. So more exciting news there to come. What do you think? Tell me in the comments. Now tune into the iX3 if you haven’t seen
so far.
This is our in-depth review of the 2026 all-new Merceds GLC EQ / EV. We’re taking a look at Exterior, Interior and technology.
00:00 all-new Mercedes GLC EQ AMG-Line
01:28 New Mercedes front grill design
03:19 Length vs GLC petrol
04:52 New rear design and suspension
06:19 Battery and charging
07:40 Acceleration
08:37 Red AMG-Line Plus
10:08 Interior quality and comfort
13:16 Cockpit with Hyperscreen
18:07 Driver POV
19:32 Rear seats
20:33 Trunk / boot
22:04 GLC EQ vs BMW iX3
Data & facts:
Mercedes GLC EV / EQ
GLC most sold Mercedes model
Production in Bremen (Germany) and China (long version)
Bremen plant with renewable energy
Production first time with humanoid robots
Platform MB EA
New front design language, front grill chrome in base or Avantgarde or dark chrome style in AMG Line, optional illuminated grill plus star
Updated Matrix LED (digital light) with more brightness and 1/2 energy consumption, high beam moves with cornering
Length 4,85 m 191“ (13 cm 5“ longer)
Wheelbase 8 cm 3“ longer than ICE GLC leading to 5 cm 2“ more legroom
Wheels 19“ up to 21“
cD 0,26
Base suspension steel
Optional S-Class air suspension and rear-axle steering 4,5° combined in agility & comfort pack
Air suspension lowering not only based on speed 120 kmh 75 mph but also on map data so it stays low on the motorway
Rear-axle steering recedes turning circle by 90 cm to 11,2 m
New AGR seats and steering wheel with returned jog wheel
standard „superscreen“
10“ instruments
14“ infotainment
14“ passenger screen (base version only with background image), optional full passenger display
Optional 39“ hyper screen largest screen ever
New chip hardware
Comfort seat or optional sport seat pack with integrated head restraints
Base seat fabric/artico in Germany, base artico in US and UK, optional vegan leatherette configurator filter
Standard panoramic roof, optional electrochrome panoramic roof, that optional with ambient lighting stars
570 l trunk – 1.740 l
130 l frunk
GLC 400 4Matic EQ
2-speed
Vmax 210 km/h 130 mph
482 hp
0-100 km/h 4,6 s
Front motor can be uncoupled
94 kWh NMC, V2H, V2G
WLTP 700 km, realistic estimate: 550 km 340 miles
Charging 800V up to 330 kW DC
10-80 % in 20 Min
400V converter optional or standard
Heat pump standard
Towing up to 2,4 t
100 kg drawbar load
New brake blending system, recuperation in 99 % of cases, up to 300 kW
Price not known yet
Comparison BMW iX3: 0,24 cD, 108 kWh battery (14 kWh larger than GLC), WLTP 800 km (+100 km), realistic estimate 640 km 400 miles, price full spec 80.000 Euro, entry price 60.000 Euro
#Mercedes #MercedesGLC
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