Mercedes is celebrating 140 years of making cars in 2026. Way back in 1886, Karl Benz took out a patent on his first “Motorwagen” – a simple, single-cylinder three-wheeled contraption with steering that used a boat-like tiller and seats that resembled a park bench. It may have been an oddity, but Benz worked with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach to perfect the recipe, and by 1901, the Daimler-Benz company was first using the Mercedes name, in honour of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who helped to finance the fledgling company.
It means that Mercedes can lay a solid claim to being the oldest carmaker in the world (Peugeot, for instance, as a company is older, but it started life making kitchen goods, and only began making cars in 1896, actually following much correspondence between Armand Peugeot and Gottlieb Daimler).
It’s appropriate, then, that Mercedes is going to hit a rich seam of new models in 2026, starting with the CLA four-door coupe/saloon, which will finally reach Irish shores in April, now carrying the European Car Of The Year trophy, the first time Mercedes has won that award in 52 years. You’ll be able to choose between all-electric variants with up to 792km of range, or hybrid models for those not keen on taking the electric leap.
There will be big electric leaps for Mercedes in 2026, though, as the firm will be renewing its key SUV offerings with two hugely significant new models – the GLB and GLC. The new GLC SUV will be fully electric (although it will sell alongside petrol, diesel, and hybrid versions of the existing GLC) and will bring back a large, upright, and prominent grille to Mercedes design, which harks back to the company’s 1950s heyday. It’s not exactly pretty, but the new GLC boasts a hefty 654km range on one charge, and gets an optional metre-wide touchscreen.
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There will also be a new C-Class saloon based around the same electric platform and grille, which will hopefully look a little more elegant than the GLC. The smaller GLB will come with seven seats, and uses the same platform as the CLA, so you can have it as a hybrid, or as an all-electric model with a 632km range.
If you need more SUVs, then Mercedes is also working on a “Baby-G” – a compact SUV that draws on the legendary, large and hugely expensive G-Class (neé G-Wagen) for its style. The Baby G (it’s not been officially named yet) will share parts with other Mercs, but its structure will be more or less unique, so it won’t be cheap, and it will come either as a hybrid or as an EV with a range expected to be around the 725km mark.
And then there’s the S-Class. The biggest and most prestigious Mercedes of all will get an update this year, which will give it new styling (although it won’t change all that much) and, somewhat surprisingly, new engine options, including a new V8 petrol engine with what’s called a “flat plane” crankshaft that trades traditional V8 noises for better efficiency. While the looks will be largely familiar, Mercedes says that the S-Class will be “50 per cent new” under the skin, and it will get the latest high-tech “MB.OS” infotainment touchscreen software, as seen in the CLA, GLB and GLC.
Quite apart from its update, this latest S-Class will be hugely significant because it will be the last version of Mercedes’ long-serving “best car in the world” that won’t have an all-electric version. While the plug-in hybrid S580e model has a lengthy 100km+ electric range, Mercedes has decided that the next-generation of S-Class will merge with the EQS electric saloon, so that the big S will then have a two-stream line-up of all-electric power and hybrid models.
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That eventual new model – not due on sale before 2029 – should have exceptional one-charge range, as Mercedes has recently tested an EQS using experimental next-generation solid-state batteries, delivering a claimed range of up to 1,208km. That could be as big a deal as Karl Benz’s original three-wheeled contraption that forever changed the world.
Packing rather less range, but with a lot more excitement, is the new BMW M3, which for the first time goes all-electric (although a much-updated variant of the current petrol-engined model will remain on sale alongside it, to placate traditionalists).
BMW is currently Arctic-testing the new electric M3, but it’s rather tight-lipped about the car’s performance. However, we do now know that BMW will copy some of Hyundai’s homework and – like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N – give the electric M3 simulated gear changes.
The M3 EV will actually use four individual electric motors, one mounted directly to each wheel, giving the potential for almost ridiculous control as power can be sent instantly to each wheel to tweak the car’s handling as you turn the steering wheel. The “gearshifts” setting will reprogramme those electric motors to deliver their power in a series of peaks and troughs, with tiny gaps between those peaks, to give the feel of a petrol-engined car working its way through the gears.
More importantly, the M3 EV will take the already-impressive electric architecture of BMW’s “Neue Klasse” electric cars (the new iX3 was The Irish Times’s highest-rated car last year) and upgrade the 108kWh battery pack so that it’s better able to deliver high performance more of the time. Four-figure power outputs have been spoken of for the new electric M3, so expect some serious EV thrills.
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“Born on the racetrack. Made for the streets. Core of a passionate community”, to life with a fully electric drivetrain. “The next generation of models is set to establish a new benchmark in the high-performance vehicle segment,” said Franciscus van Meel, head of BMW’s sporty M-Division. “With the latest generation of Neue Klasse technology, we are taking the BMW M driving experience to a new level and will inspire our customers with outstanding, racetrack-ready driving dynamics for everyday use.”
Finally, and at a rather more sedate and affordable level, there’s Skoda, which has confirmed that its new all-electric seven seater will be called the Peaq, which you quite simply pronounce as “Peak”. Based on the striking style of the Vision 7S concept car, the Peaq is expected to have a seriously versatile cabin with multiple seating layouts and lots of space on offer, although it will have to go some way to beat the existing likes of the Kia EV9 or Hyundai Ioniq 9.
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According to Martin Jahn, Skoda’s head of sales and marketing: “With the Vision 7S, we entered new territory for Skoda, with a clear idea of how to elevate the brand. Since then, we have introduced a new design language and further refined our product identity. Now we are bringing this innovative vehicle concept to life. Our new flagship model takes our brand values of spaciousness and practicality to a whole new level. As of today, our bold vision for Skoda’s electric future has a name: Peaq – a clear statement of where this model belongs in our portfolio.”
Don’t expect this to be a return to cheap and cheerful Skodas, though – the Peaq, Jahn confirmed, will sit above the Enyaq in Skoda’s line-up, so it will have a starting price above €50,000; perhaps well above that figure. However, given Skoda’s big and growing presence in Ireland, and the huge success of the pricey Kodiaq SUV, expect to see a series of Peaq sales peaks.
