Mercedes-Benz Eqc400 vs BYD Atto 2

What's the difference?

The Mercedes-Benz EQC has been on sale in Australia for a little while now, and aside from the local launch event we haven’t had a chance to spend any quality time with the brand’s first fully electric SUV. Until now.

The EQC 400, as it’s officially known, is the German luxury maker’s first foray into the full-EV landscape, and could arguably be seen as the first true luxury electric SUV on sale in Australia. I mean, yeah, there’s the Jaguar i-Pace, but it has a more premium-sporting intent than the EQC, and the Tesla Model X isn’t aimed at a luxury customer, more so a technologically-minded buyer.

So what’s the Merc EQC like to actually live with? We drove it for a week to find out.

There has never been a better time to be shopping for an electric SUV in Australia, with the avalanche of Chinese brands constantly smashing through the price floor as they bid for the title of Australia’s cheapest.

MG led the charge with its S5, which is $40,490, drive-away. Then Leapmotor upped (or downed?) the ante with its B10 with a $38,990, drive-away, price tag. And now BYD has knocked them both out with its Atto 2, officially Australia’s cheapest electric SUV (at least for now), with a MSRP of $31,990, which, in NSW, translates to a drive-away cost of less than $35K.

Cheap is one thing. But cheerful? Let’s find out, shall we?