LONG WAY DOWN

LUXURY CAR OF THE YEAR

What’s fascinating (and awkward) about the Mercedes EQS is that it exists to pick up the indulgent barge baton and leg it into the battery powered future, from under the nose of the present incumbent.

Mercedes still builds S-Classes. The current – stupendous – seventh iteration has only been on sale for about a year. With the EQS, Mercedes is attempting something most carmakers have failed to pull off in the past five decades: build an enduring rival to literally the S-Class of luxury cars.

This takes some time to mull over. About eight hours ought to do it. The rangiest version of the new Benz flagship you can buy