Mercedes-Benz Opens World's First All-Electric Car Dealership in Japan

Almost every car manufacturer has already settled into the electric saddle or is planning to do so shortly.

As I said, electric mobility is bound to happen, and the public, understandably, has mixed feelings about this movement. Some understand and adhere to this electrification, while there are others that are not ready to let go of the driving dynamics and mechanical feeling of an internal combustion engine. Whatever you feel about electric vehicles, one thing is certain: there's no turning back now. 

Mercedes-Benz is no exception to this rule. The German brand has been building electric luxury vehicles for a couple of years now and plans to offer an electric alternative for all models in their lineup by 2025. They are certainly moving quickly towards the zero-emission goal, and they just opened an all-electric dealership in Japan, a world first.

The new store is hosted by a black two-story building in Yokohama, located just south of Tokyo. The Mercedes EQA, EQB, EQC, EQE, and EQS will take the floor there. Customers will be able to book test drives and spec their future cars.

This is a pretty interesting move, to say the least, as Japanese customers have proven to be loyal to their domestic brands and not particularly interested in electric cars, let alone foreign ones, with Mazda, Honda, Mitsubishi, and Nissan stealing the spotlight.

With that said, we can see significant growth in the interest of Japanese customers toward brands from overseas. According to Nikkei Asia, 2021 saw an increase of 23% in sales of foreign cars from the previous year, most of them being Mercedes.

Even though there are still some resentments towards EVs, people are starting to slowly embrace them. The future is inevitable, and we should look at electric cars as something different and exciting. The move Mercedes did in Japan is natural in this context. It would have happened sooner rather than later. It is normal, and we can expect to see many more all-electric dealerships opening soon, taking the place of the ones we have today.