2027 Mercedes-Benz GLB Priced for Australia: Seven Seats From $65,400, Electric GLB 250+ From $74,990 as It Replaces the EQB

Image credit: Mercedes-Benz Australia. Options shown may not be available in Australia.

The second-generation Mercedes-Benz GLB is on sale in Australia, and it has quietly absorbed another model on the way in. There is no EQB any more. The boxy seven-seater now comes as a petrol mild hybrid or as a battery-electric car, and both wear the GLB badge. Mercedes-Benz Australia's current model catalogue lists exactly two GLB families, petrol and electric, and marks both as for sale.

The number most people will repeat is the one at the bottom of the list: launch reports have the GLB 200 opening at $65,400 before on-road costs, which they say is below the outgoing car. The more interesting number is the electric GLB 250+ at $74,990. That price is cheaper than the all-wheel drive petrol car, well under the luxury car tax line, and ten dollars short of a figure that matters to anyone leasing an electric car after March next year. Here is how the range actually lands.

Pricing

Mercedes-Benz Australia sells direct at a fixed price and its website does not print a before-on-roads figure. It prints an estimated drive-away price once you enter a postcode. So the table carries both: the list prices reported at launch, and the drive-away figures Mercedes' own configurator returned for a standard car of each variant in Sydney (postcode 2000) and Melbourne (postcode 3000) on 1 October 2026.

Drive-away figures are rounded to the dollar. Mercedes describes them as indicative, not a binding quote, and they move with postcode because stamp duty and registration do. Every one includes a $1,950 delivery fee. The reported list prices line up with Mercedes' own breakdowns: the vehicle price the configurator shows before GST, with GST added, comes to within a dollar of each reported figure. We still show them as reported because Mercedes Australia does not print them itself.

One thing jumps out of that table. At list price the electric GLB 250+ is $1,110 cheaper than the petrol GLB 220 4MATIC, and on Mercedes' Sydney numbers it is $1,165 cheaper to drive away. The petrol car gets all-wheel drive for the money; the electric car gets 200kW, against the petrol car's 140kW engine and 22kW mild-hybrid motor, and a claimed 0 to 100km/h time of 7.4 seconds. If you were going to buy the 220 4MATIC for the badge and the extra grip, it is worth being honest about how often you need the second.

What You Get

This is what Mercedes-Benz Australia's own technical data and configurator show for each variant. Where a figure is only in launch reports, the table says so.

The petrol cars pair a 1,499cc four-cylinder engine with a 22kW electric motor, in what launch reports describe as a 48-volt mild-hybrid system, so they still need fuel for every kilometre; this is not a plug-in. The electric cars share one 85kWh usable battery. Mercedes Australia quotes 22 minutes for 10 to 80 per cent on a fast enough DC charger, and says ten minutes of DC charging adds 225 to 260km of WLTP range to a GLB 250+ and 215 to 255km to a GLB 350 4MATIC. A full charge from a wallbox or public AC charger is quoted at about nine hours.

A note on that AC figure. Mercedes-Benz Australia's technical data lists maximum AC charging at 11kW for both electric cars. At least one launch report quoted 22kW. We have used Mercedes' own number. For most Australian homes it makes no difference anyway, because a single-phase supply cannot deliver more than about 7kW.

Launch reports also say the new car is 4,732mm long, 48mm longer than before, on a wheelbase stretched by 60mm to 2,889mm, and that every GLB gets a panoramic glass roof, hands-free power tailgate, head-up display, 14-inch central touchscreen, and heated front seats with power adjustment and memory. The electric cars add a front boot, which Mercedes puts at 127 litres (104 litres on the ISO measure). Mercedes Australia's own pages add one caveat families should read: the third row is only suitable for people under 171cm. Treat it as a row for children and short trips, as with the old car.

The EQB Is Gone. Is the Replacement Better?

On paper, clearly. The outgoing EQB250 is listed in our directory at 140kW with 100kW DC charging. The new GLB 250+ has 200kW, an 85kWh usable battery and more than three times the DC charging rate. Launch reports put its price more than $15,000 below the EQB it replaces, and the same reports have the petrol range opening below the old GLB 200's price.

Launch reports say the new GLB moves to the same newer platform as the latest CLA, with an 800-volt electrical system in the electric cars, which is what makes 320kW charging possible. It also changes the ordering of the range. The old EQB was the expensive alternative to a petrol GLB. Now the entry electric car sits below the petrol all-wheel drive one.

If you are shopping the old car at a run-out price, the question is simple: how big a discount makes a smaller battery and 100kW charging worth it against a newer car that, at list price, costs less? For the EQB, that discount has to be very large.

Where the Tax Lines Fall

This is general information, not tax advice, and it uses the thresholds for the 2026-27 financial year, which change every 1 July.

The luxury car tax threshold for fuel-efficient vehicles, which includes every electric car, is $91,661 for 2026-27. The fringe benefits tax exemption that makes a novated lease on an electric car so attractive only applies to cars valued under it. Mercedes' own drive-away breakdowns are useful here because they itemise luxury car tax when it applies. The standard GLB 250+ and the standard GLB 350 4MATIC carry no luxury car tax line, which puts both under the threshold. That is a genuine advantage: the other Mercedes electric SUV we have covered this year, the GLC 400 4MATIC, starts well above it.

Options change that quickly on the GLB 350. Mercedes' own "Sporty Look" configuration, which adds the Plus Package and the Premium Plus Package with Digital Extras, shows $205.20 of luxury car tax in the Sydney breakdown and a drive-away price of $97,519. The tax is small; losing the FBT exemption on a lease is not. Mercedes' figure only works if the $1,950 delivery fee is counted in the car's value, which tells you how thin the margin is. If you are leasing a GLB 350, spec it with the configurator open and watch for that line appearing.

The $75,000 question

The government has announced a narrower electric car exemption for leases starting on or after 1 April 2027. The full exemption is to apply only to cars at or under $75,000, with a 25 per cent discount for cars above that up to the luxury car tax threshold. Leases already running before that date keep their treatment.

A GLB 250+ with a list price of $74,990 looks as if it was priced for exactly that line. Be careful with that reading. If the $75,000 test counts the car's value the way Mercedes' luxury car tax calculation does, with the $1,950 delivery fee included, a standard GLB 250+ comes to about $77,135, not $74,990. So do not assume it clears the line. If the full exemption matters to your budget and you would like the certainty, either sign before 1 April 2027 or get your lease provider to confirm in writing how they value the car. Our FBT-exempt cars guide and lease calculator will help you rough out the difference.

The petrol cars face a different threshold, $80,809 for 2026-27, because the higher threshold needs a published consumption of 3.5 L/100km or less and Mercedes has not published a fuel figure for either petrol car. Mercedes' breakdown shows no luxury car tax on a standard GLB 220 4MATIC, but on our arithmetic it has only about $2,500 of headroom once delivery is counted, so a reported $4,000 option pack would take it over.

What It Is Up Against

Seven-seat electric cars are still thin on the ground at this money. We list 19 electric variants with seven or more seats as on sale, and none with a before-on-roads price comes in under the GLB 250+'s reported $74,990; two Denza D9 variants carry no price at all. The cheapest with a before-on-roads price we have checked against its maker is the Kia EV9 Air RWD at $97,000 before on-roads. That is $22,010 more than the reported GLB 250+ price. The Kia is a much bigger car. The Volkswagen ID. Buzz Pro LWB is sold at $84,990 drive-away, so compare it with the GLB's drive-away numbers: Mercedes' Sydney figure for a GLB 250+ is about $3,650 less. The Volvo EX90 Plus Single Motor is $106,990 before on-roads.

If you do not need to plug in, the petrol GLB has mainstream seven-seaters to justify itself against. The Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid AWD is $60,650 before on-roads and the Mazda CX-80 G40e GT is $70,100, and both undercut the GLB 220 4MATIC. What the Mercedes offers is the badge, the cabin technology and a smaller footprint to park, so be clear about which of those you are paying for.

What Mercedes Has Not Told Us Yet

• Range and energy use. Mercedes-Benz Australia's own technical data leaves the WLTP range and energy consumption fields blank for both electric cars. The 570km and 554km figures are from launch reports.
• Fuel consumption for the GLB 200 and GLB 220 4MATIC, which is what decides running costs and which luxury car tax threshold applies.
• Towing capacity, kerb weight and boot volume. We list the outgoing GLB200 at 1,600kg braked. No figure for the new car appears on the Mercedes Australia pages we read, so do not assume it carries over.
• Torque. Launch reports quote torque figures for all four variants; Mercedes Australia's pages do not show them.
• An ANCAP rating. ANCAP lists the GLB built from January 2026, and the electric version under its old EQB name, as unrated. The previous generation's rating does not transfer.
• A performance variant. The old range had an AMG GLB 35. Mercedes Australia's current catalogue does not list a new one.

Who It Suits, and Who It Does Not

The GLB 250+ is the pick of the range, and it suits a family that wants an electric car with an occasional third row and a lease that stays inside the FBT exemption. It is cheaper than the petrol all-wheel drive car, it charges fast, and no seven-seat electric car we list with a price undercuts it. Just sign before 1 April 2027 if the full exemption is part of the plan.

The GLB 350 4MATIC makes sense if you want all-wheel drive and 260kW, but watch the options list on a lease. The GLB 200 is the way into the badge for the least money, with front-wheel drive and a small turbo petrol engine. It has little to argue with a Santa Fe or CX-80 on space.

It is not the car for a family that uses the third row every day with teenagers or adults in it; Mercedes' own 171cm limit says as much. And if towing matters, wait for a published figure before you order. We will add the new GLB to the CarSorted directory with full specifications as Mercedes-Benz Australia publishes them, and our seven-seat electric car guide covers the rest of the field.