Mercedes-Benz is bringing its latest electric SUV to India, and this time it is doing so rather quickly. The German luxury carmaker has announced that bookings for the new GLC Electric will open in India from the first week of October, with the SUV set to launch towards the end of the year.
More importantly, the GLC Electric will be locally assembled in India, making its arrival considerably more interesting from a pricing perspective. Mercedes-Benz says the model will reach India just six months after sales began in Europe, making it the fastest a global model has been introduced in India as an assembled vehicle.
The GLC has already become a familiar face on Indian roads, but the electric version brings an entirely new powertrain and a considerably more high-tech cabin. In India, the GLC Electric will be offered in 400 4Matic guise, powered by a 94 kWh NMC battery and a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup.
Combined output is rated at 490 bhp and 800 Nm, giving the electric SUV enough shove to get from 0-100 kph in just 4.3 seconds. That is particularly impressive considering this is a luxury SUV weighing more than 2,500 kg. Mercedes-Benz claims a maximum WLTP range of 715 km, putting the GLC Electric firmly into long-distance EV territory.
The SUV will also come with rear-wheel steering as standard, a feature designed to make the sizeable GLC more agile at lower speeds while improving stability when travelling faster. Given the amount of technology and hardware being packed underneath the body, it should also make parking this rather substantial machine slightly less stressful.
Interestingly, Mercedes-Benz has chosen not to bring the long-wheelbase version to India. The GLC Electric destined for our market will use the standard wheelbase, measuring 2,972 mm between the axles. China gets a long-wheelbase version with an additional 55mm of wheelbase, but Mercedes-Benz has opted against its usual long-wheelbase strategy for India with the electric GLC.
And visually, the GLC Electric is arguably one of Mercedes-Benz’s more restrained recent designs. It gets the brand’s latest star-themed LED lighting elements, a large illuminated grille and rounded proportions that retain the familiar GLC silhouette. AMG Line versions bring sportier bumpers, while a wraparound rear light band gives the SUV a distinctive look.
Depending on the variant, wheel sizes will go up to 21 inches, giving the GLC Electric a suitably premium stance without making it look like it has been designed by a committee of people who have never seen a kerb.
Inside, however, things get considerably more futuristic. The headline feature is Mercedes-Benz’s enormous 39.1-inch MBUX Hyperscreen, which stretches across the dashboard and incorporates the driver’s display, central touchscreen and passenger screen into a single visual unit. It is the largest display Mercedes-Benz has fitted to a production car, and naturally, it takes up rather a lot of real estate.
The latest generation of MBUX gets cleaner menus and an integrated AI assistant, continuing Mercedes-Benz’s push towards increasingly intelligent in-car interfaces. Interestingly, the company has also brought back more conventional physical controls for the steering wheel and centre console, moving away from the touch-sensitive controls found on many of its recent models.
The cabin still remains heavily digital, but touches such as the wood panels on the centre console and lower section of the dashboard provide a little old-school luxury to balance all those pixels.
With local assembly confirmed, the Mercedes-Benz GLC Electric could also be priced more aggressively than a fully imported luxury EV. While official pricing will be announced closer to launch, expectations are for the SUV to sit somewhere between ₹80 lakh and ₹90 lakh, ex-showroom. That would position the GLC Electric in an interesting part of India’s luxury EV market, particularly with the upcoming BMW iX3 also expected to enter the segment next year in long-wheelbase form.
For now, Mercedes-Benz is clearly moving quickly. Bookings open in October, the launch follows towards the end of 2026, and the GLC Electric arrives promising a combination of 715 km range, 490 bhp, 800 Nm, all-wheel drive and a 39.1-inch screen. The petrol GLC may still have plenty of life left in it, but Mercedes-Benz is making sure its electric replacement is anything but boring.
