Mercedes Pauses U.S. EV Orders as Sales Slide

While it had high hopes when it launched its EQ line-up of all-electric models, Mercedes-Benz has seen sales fall well short of expectations and is now putting its U.S. EV order bank on hold. Headlight. News has more.

Mercedes-Benz is temporarily shutting down the order bank for its EQ battery-electric vehicles for the U.S. market, the automaker announced Wednesday morning.

The move comes at a time when the growth of the overall American EV market has slowed. But it more directly reflects the weak response by U.S. consumers to the automaker’s distinctively designed models, such as the flagship EQS and smaller EQE.

Neither of those has been able to keep up with the broader U.S. battery-electric model which posted another record for the first half of 2025.

Plunging sales

While Mercedes had earlier all-electric products, it got serious about the EV market with the launch of the 2022 EQS sedan, with its distinctive “one-bow” design. It followed up with an SUV version, along with the smaller EQE line, also offered in both sedan and SUV configurations.

But both EQS and EQE received mixed reactions from both automotive reviewers and consumers. And demand for the bigger sedan fell 32% during the first half of this year, to just 2,318 vehicles sold in the U.S., while the EQE slid 35%, to 4,676, according to Automotive News.

That was despite Mercedes rolling out lucrative sales incentives, Edmunds reporting Mercedes discounted the EVs by as much as 18% off MSRP during the second quarter of 2025.

Looking ahead, Mercedes also had to factor in the potential impact that the anticipated 15% tariff on European auto imports could have on its EQ sales.

Aligning with the market

The typical EQ model is now sitting on Mercedes lots for nearly four months before being sold, roughly 70% longer than the automaker’s other product lines, according to industry reports.

As a result, “Mercedes-Benz is temporarily putting on hold order banks for EQ models in the U.S. to align with current market demand,” a spokesperson for the company said.

The German automaker stressed that it isn’t abandoning the EV market, even in the U.S. where overall electric vehicles sales set a record for the first half, though they declined 6.3% during the second quarter.

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A redesign coming

Industry analysts have told Headlight.News they’re not surprised by the weak performance of the Mercedes EQ line-up. The one-bow design language hasn’t been well-received, several noted, especially as the radically rounded look negatively impacts rear headroom. The products also fell short on range when compared to some other competitors. Pricing has also been a problem.

There will be a modest redesign coming for 2026, the automaker confirmed, though more substantial changes are still several years away.

That said, Mercedes is rethinking its entire powertrain strategy. It recently reversed course, saying it will make major investments in new internal combustion engines. It plans to launch 19 new ICE models by the end of 2027, though Mercedes also plans to roll out 17 EVs during that period, as well. It has not said how many of the all-electric models will come to the States.

“We don’t believe that the BEV demand in the United States goes to zero,” CEO Ola Kaellenius told reporters on Wednesday, “We still think that the medium to long-term adoption rate of BEVs in the U.S. will creep upwards.”