Audi E-Tron Gt vs Mercedes-Benz S450

What's the difference?

It can be easy to dismiss electric cars as an imperfect solution to the world’s problems. But that would be missing one big point - they’re really, really fast.

Carmakers twigged that not everyone was enamoured with the environmental credentials of electric vehicles (EVs), especially luxury brands, and thus pivoted to the new sales tacit of performance and prestige.

Which is why Audi’s current performance flagship vehicle is not a mid-engined V10-powered replacement for the R8, but rather the all-electric RS e-tron GT. And for the new model year they have not only updated the range, bringing (you guessed it) more power, but also added a new hero model - the RS e-tron GT Performance.

It leads a new three-pronged line-up for the four rings brand, with the RS e-tron GT Performance sitting above the RS e-tron GT and the new S e-tron GT; the latter effectively replacing the previous ‘entry-grade’ model known only as the e-tron GT.

These arrive as part of a mid-life update for the model, with some minor styling tweaks (inside and out) along with enhancements to the battery and changes to the specifications.

The new range has just arrived in Australia and Audi will be hoping it can turn around the sales performance, which saw the outgoing e-tron GT and RS e-tron GT find just 84 customers in 2024. That was a decline of 75 per cent on 2023 sales, and nearly 200 less than the closely related Porsche Taycan.

It's only in the running for the title of world's best luxury car. No biggie here, then.

Like Rolex and Concorde, S-Class has become a byword for ultimate, and deserved or not, the Mercedes-Benz defines its segment despite the best efforts of the BMW 7 Series, Audi A8, Lexus LS and (sadly now-defunct) Jaguar XJ, as well as pointing the way forward with new technologies that eventually trickle down to more proletarian models.

Replacing the half-million selling W222 unveiled in 2013, the W223 is the latest in a long line since the first W187 Ponton debuted in 1951, and includes the famous ‘Finnies' and Stroke-8 models that followed immediately afterwards, but it is the 1972 W116 that really set the template.

Now, seven generations in, the 2021 S-Class is all-new again, with progressive safety and interior features that should help keep it Australia's bestselling full-sized upper-luxury sedan.