2026 Mercedes-Benz EQS 400 for Australia: One Rear-Drive Variant, 112kWh, Up to 810km WLTP and $197,676 Drive-Away in Sydney

Image credit: Mercedes-Benz Australia. Configurator image of the EQS 400 in Obsidian Black.

Mercedes-Benz has put the updated EQS sedan on sale in Australia, and the most important change is not the battery or the range. It is that there is now only one of them. Mercedes-Benz Australia's EQS configurator offers a single car, the EQS 400, with one electric motor driving the rear wheels. The EQS450+ and AMG EQS53 we list are not in it.

What the single variant gets is a bigger battery, a quicker-charging 800-volt system and a lot of standard equipment. What it asks is still a lot of money, most of which is not going to Mercedes. Here is what the price actually buys, what the headline range figure depends on, and who should be looking at it.

Pricing

Mercedes-Benz Australia's public site shows an estimated drive-away price once you enter a postcode. It does not print a list price before on-road costs, so the list price below is the figure given in launch reports.

GoAuto reports that the EQS 400 is $35,000 cheaper than the all-wheel drive EQS 450 it effectively replaces, which it puts at $219,900 before on-roads; The Beep puts the gap at $37,400. That is the reported comparison, not one we could check on Mercedes' site, since the older car is no longer in the configurator.

Where the $197,676 Goes

This is the part launch coverage tends to skip. Mercedes' configurator breaks its Sydney estimate down line by line, for a private buyer with no options fitted:

GST, luxury car tax, stamp duty and registration together come to about $46,500 of that figure, and the biggest of those four is luxury car tax. As general information: for the 2026-27 financial year the threshold for fuel-efficient vehicles is $91,661, and the tax is charged at 33 per cent of the amount above it, excluding GST. An electric car at this price clears the threshold by a long way, so every option you add also attracts it. The threshold is re-indexed each 1 July.

The same threshold decides the fringe benefits tax exemption for electric cars on a novated lease, and the EQS 400 is nowhere near qualifying. If you were hoping to salary package one the way people do with a Model 3, the numbers do not work. Your employer or tax adviser can tell you what does.

Stamp duty and registration vary by state, so a Melbourne or Brisbane figure will differ. Enter your own postcode on Mercedes' site before you take the Sydney number anywhere.

The 810km Figure Depends on the Wheels

Mercedes-Benz Australia's EQS page says the new car "can reach up to 810km WLTP range on a single charge". Note the up to. The same page's technical data table leaves the electrical range and energy consumption fields for the EQS 400 blank, so Mercedes has not published a figure for the exact car it sells here.

That matters because of wheel size. The EQS 400 in the Australian configurator comes standard on 21-inch aerodynamic alloys with 265/40 R21 tyres. Launch reports say the 810km figure was achieved on 19-inch wheels offered in Europe but not here, and GoAuto reports a figure of 788km for the 21-inch car. Mercedes has not confirmed that number on its Australian site.

Why split hairs over 22km? Because "Australia's longest-range EV" is the headline most people will read, and it rests on exactly that gap. Of the 302 new battery electric cars we list as on sale, the longest WLTP figure belongs to the BMW iX3 50 xDrive at 805km, followed by the outgoing EQS450+ at 780km and the Tesla Model 3 Long Range at 750km. At 810km the EQS 400 would sit at the top of our list. At 788km it would sit second, behind an SUV that costs a lot less. Either way it goes a long way on a charge. It just is not a record we can confirm for the car Australians will actually drive home.

And WLTP is a lab test. A heavy car at 110km/h on a hot day, with the air-conditioning on and big wheels, will fall short of it. The estimator below shows by how much for electric cars we already list. The new EQS is not in it yet; pick any large EV to get a feel for how speed and temperature eat into a lab figure.

Charging: Fast on DC, Check the AC Number

The battery is 112kWh usable, against the 108.4kWh we list for the outgoing EQS450+. Mercedes' Australian technical data gives these charging figures:

• Maximum DC charging power: 330kW
• DC 10 to 80 per cent: 25 minutes
• Range added in 10 minutes of DC charging: 255 to 305km WLTP
• Maximum AC charging power: 11kW, and 11.5 hours for a full AC charge

Two things do not line up. Launch reports quote a 350kW DC peak, and Mercedes' own configurator text describes DC charging "with up to 350 kW", while the technical data says 330kW. Either way, the peak you see depends on the charger you plug into. The AC figure matters more for most owners. The equipment list on Mercedes' EQS page includes a "22kW Alternating current charging system", yet the technical data says 11kW maximum. If you have three-phase power at home or work, ask the dealer which one your car will have before you order.

If your house is on single-phase power, you will not see 11kW from a home wallbox anyway, and a 112kWh battery is a big thing to fill overnight. Ask an electrician what your supply can deliver before you budget for the charger.

What Comes Standard, and What Costs Extra

With one variant, Mercedes has loaded the base car. Items marked standard in the Australian configurator include:

• MBUX Hyperscreen across the dashboard, with an augmented reality head-up display and navigation
• Burmester surround sound, active ambient lighting and ENERGIZING AIR CONTROL Plus air filtration
• AIRMATIC air suspension with adaptive damping, and rear-axle steering up to 4.5 degrees
• DIGITAL LIGHT headlights and a panoramic sliding sunroof
• Driving Assistance package Plus with PRE-SAFE, a 360-degree camera and rear side airbags
• Electrically adjustable rear seats, heated outer rear seats, comfort rear armrests and luxury rear head restraints
• Climatised front seats, a memory package, wireless phone charging front and rear, and a heat pump
• 21-inch aerodynamic multi-spoke alloy wheels

The configurator lists these options for private buyers, priced including GST:

Launch reports quoted $6,900 for the Comfort Plus Package. The configurator's figure is shown with GST but before luxury car tax, which Mercedes calculates on the whole car in its drive-away breakdown, so expect the final cost of any option to be more than its configurator line. And bigger wheels generally cost range as well as money.

The headline new feature, steer-by-wire, is described as optional on Mercedes-Benz Australia's EQS page, which says it "delivers smooth, effortless control and improved maneuverability". It was not in the Australian configurator when we checked on 1 October. Launch reports quoted a $7,500 option price and describe a yoke-style wheel with the rear-axle steering angle increased to 10 degrees. Until you can tick the box, treat it as coming rather than here.

Size, Weight and Towing

Mercedes-Benz Australia lists the EQS 400 at 5,225mm long, 1,926mm wide (2,138mm with mirrors) and 1,510mm tall, with a kerb weight of 2,550kg, a maximum payload of 570kg and a maximum weight of 3,120kg. The boot holds 610 litres, or 1,690 litres with the rear seats folded. Mercedes lists five seats and five doors, the fifth being the lift-up tailgate.

Braked towing is 1,600kg and unbraked is 750kg. That covers a small boat or a trailer, not most caravans. If you are thinking about towing with an electric car of this weight, our TowingSorted planner will show you how the weights add up, and remember that range falls hard with anything on the hitch.

Performance is Mercedes' claim of 6.2 seconds to 100km/h and a 210km/h top speed. That is the same 0 to 100km/h time we list for the outgoing EQS450+, with 25kW more power and 63Nm less torque on paper.

What Happened to the Rest of the Range

We list two EQS sedans: the rear-drive EQS450+ and the Mercedes-AMG EQS53 4MATIC+. Neither appears in Mercedes-Benz Australia's EQS configurator now, which offers only the EQS 400. Launch reports say Mercedes has not confirmed whether an all-wheel drive EQS or the AMG version will return. We are keeping both pages up while we confirm their status, and we will add the EQS 400 to the CarSorted directory.

So if you need all-wheel drive in an electric Mercedes this size today, the obvious place to look is the EQS SUV, which we list as an EQS 450 4MATIC. If you want the AMG, ask your dealer what stock is left.

What It Is Up Against

The EQS 400 is not in the comparison below yet because we do not hold its row. What is in it are electric cars you can order today that a buyer at this money is already weighing up. Pick any two.

The closest electric sedan on price with a figure we have checked against the manufacturer is the Audi S e-tron GT at $209,900 before on-roads. It is a very different car. On the figures we list it has 500kW, all-wheel drive, a 3.4-second 0 to 100km/h claim and 558km of WLTP range. The Audi is the fast one; the EQS is the one with the rear-seat package and the range.

Other large electric sedans we list include the BMW i7 xDrive60, the Genesis Electrified G80 and the Polestar 5 Performance. On the figures we list, the i7 is longer at 5,391mm with 400kW and all-wheel drive, while the Genesis and the Polestar are both all-wheel drive with 350kW DC charging. The longest WLTP figure among the three in our listing is the i7's 625km, well short of either range number for the EQS 400.

Then there are the awkward comparisons from further down. The BMW iX3 50 xDrive at $109,900 before on-roads has 805km of WLTP range in our listing, which is more than the reported figure for the 21-inch EQS, for about $75,000 less. And Mercedes' own CLA 350 4MATIC Electric at $91,300 gets 663km. Neither is a limousine, and nobody cross-shops a CLA against an EQS for the back seat. But if range per dollar is your measure, the EQS is not where it is.

Safety Rating

ANCAP's rating for the EQS sedan carries a 2021 date stamp, and its record says it applies to the EQS 450 4MATIC only, with the AMG version unrated. There is no ANCAP rating for the EQS 400, and a rating for one variant does not carry over to another. Standard safety equipment is extensive, including the Driving Assistance package Plus with PRE-SAFE and rear side airbags, but that is not the same thing as a crash-tested result.

What Mercedes Has Not Published Yet

• A range and energy consumption figure for the Australian car. The technical data fields are blank, so there is no official number for the 21-inch EQS 400 on Mercedes-Benz Australia's site.
• A list price before on-road costs on its public site. It shows drive-away estimates by postcode.
• Steer-by-wire availability. Listed as optional, not yet orderable online.
• Which AC charging system is fitted. The page names both 11kW and 22kW.
• The future of the all-wheel drive and AMG sedans.
• An ANCAP rating for this variant.

Who It Suits

If you want a quiet, very long-range electric limousine with a proper rear seat, and you are paying cash or through a business where the tax position has been worked out, the EQS 400 makes more sense than the car it replaces. Against the EQS450+ we list, it has a bigger battery, a higher DC charging peak on paper (330kW against 200kW) and more power, with the Hyperscreen, air suspension and rear-axle steering all standard.

It suits you less if you tow anything heavier than 1,600kg, if you want all-wheel drive, or if you were counting on an FBT-free novated lease. And if the thing that sold you was "810km", get the dealer to confirm the figure for the car on 21-inch wheels before you sign. If a run-out EQS450+ or AMG EQS53 is still in stock at a discount, it is worth pricing against the new car. We track current offers on our deals page.