By moreimages @ Shutterstock.com

The new Mercedes-Benz EQS has been dubbed the “Tesla fighter,” and aims to rival the American electric car company’s Model S. Jack Denton reports in Barron’s:

Mercedes’ new luxury electric-vehicle, dubbed a “Tesla fighter” by analysts, beats out the high-end Model S offering from Elon Musk’s company on two key fronts based on a road test, a team at Swiss bank UBS said.

Shares in Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, slipped around 1.3% in Frankfurt trading on Wednesday, paralleling losses with the blue-chip German DAX index.

The back story. The EQS is Mercedes’ new flagship all-electric vehicle, which analysts at Deutsche Bank dubbed a “Tesla fighter” ahead of its launch in April, writing that it has the potential to improve the perception of the entire brand.

The full-size luxury sedan is the first of Mercedes’ new dedicated electric-vehicle architecture and has a range of up to 770 km (478 miles). That makes it the longest-range all-electric-vehicle on the market, according to Deutsche Bank analysts, with its only possible competitor having been the now-cancelled Plaid Plus upgraded version of Tesla’s Model S.

Read more here.