Mercedes-Benz Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche used the company's investor day in Sindelfingen, Germany to announce it will offer hybrid and fully-electric versions of its entire fleet by 2022.

 

At the same time, it will convert the Smart city car brand into a fully electric line, completely ditching the combustion engines it offers at the moment.

The news means there will be 50 electrified versions of Mercedes-Benz cars, in either hybrid or all-electric form, for customers to buy.
Mercedes is all too aware that electric cars don't have the profit margins of their combustion engine counterparts, mainly due to production costs.

To help offset the inevitable hit to revenue, Mercedes says it plans to save 4 billion Euros between now and 2025 to help keep the company in a strong operating position.

Mercedes isn't the first manufacturer to announce its all-electric plans for the future and certainly won't be the last. Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover have both pledged to offer all-electric versions of their cars within the next few years.

Volvo will in fact ditch combustion engines entirely, so you'll only be able to buy an electric car from 2019.

With petrol and diesel new car sales to end by 2040 in the UK, and with similar plans being carried out by other countries worldwide, car manufacturers have no option but to turn to electric, or hydrogen, to power their future cars.