Mercedes-Benz unveiled an electric crossover concept vehicle at the Paris Motor Show on Thursday, September 29. The Generation EQ, what the company calls as the close-to-production concept vehicle, marks the launch of architecture for battery-electric vehicles across all models. The unveiling of the Generation EQ also marks the new sub-brand of Mercedes-Benz for electric cars called EQ.

Mercedes‑Benz will market future battery-electric vehicles under the brand name EQ. The name stands for 'Electric Intelligence' and is derived from the Mercedes-Benz brand values of 'Emotion and Intelligence'.

Similar to the latest series-produced models from Mercedes‑Benz, the Generation EQ is also built on an intelligent multi-material mix of steel, aluminium and carbon fibre.

It features driver-oriented cockpit with asymmetrical design of the instrument panel, floating wide-screen display and touch-based controls.

The Generation EQ gets three-spoke steering wheel and two of the three narrow spokes on the steering wheel are provided with touch controls, which are integrated into OLED displays (OLED = organic light emitting diode ).

"Generation EQ is hot and cool. Its fascination lies in a reinterpretation of our design philosophy of sensual purity, the aim being to create an avant-garde, contemporary and distinctive electro-look," says Gorden Wagener, Head of Design at Daimler AG.

"At the same time, the design of the visionary show car, which has been reduced to the essentials, reveals an alluring progressivity," he added.

The Generation EQ flaunts black panel front grille with white-illuminated Mercedes star. It gets LED headlamps and 21-inch wheels. Coming to the heart of the Generation EQ, it gets two electric motors on the front and rear axles and a battery in the vehicle floor with output of up to 400bhp and a maximum torque of up to 700Nm.

The Generation EQ accelerates to 100 kilometres per hour in under five seconds and has a range of up to 500 kilometres on single charge.