AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)05/20 Report--

On May 19, Mercedes-Benz released the latest strategic plan for the brand. Mercedes-Benz said it would re-engineer its product matrix and divide its products into high-end luxury, core luxury and new generation luxury in the future.

In terms of specific product division, the "high-end luxury" product lineup includes all models of Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach brands, and high-end models of Mercedes-EQ brand.(including EQS and EQS pure electric SUV), Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan, G-Class car and full size luxury GLS SUV and other limited edition models and selected crossover models; The "core luxury" product lineup includes Mercedes-Benz C-class and E-class families and their derivative models. In the future, Mercedes-Benz will assume the most important sales source of Mercedes-Benz brand. At the same time, Mercedes-Benz will accelerate the transformation of its electric products by brand and launch EVA2 and MB.EA model architecture platforms, involving new EQE, new EQE pure electric SUV, As for the "new generation luxury" product lineup, Mercedes-Benz will redefine the entry-level standard of the new generation model through the next generation model, and will reduce 7 models to 4 models in the future.

Mercedes-Benz pointed out that more than 75% of the investment in the future will be invested in the high-end luxury and core luxury market segments. In terms of sales volume, Mercedes-Benz plans to increase the sales share of high-end models by about 60% by 2026 compared with 2019, striving to achieve the profit margin target of about 14% by the middle of this decade under favorable market conditions. Commenting on this, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mercedes-Benz AG, Conlin Song, said: "The luxury segment has always been at the heart of our brand and is now at the heart of our corporate strategy. We are further strengthening the core of our business model and our product matrix to maximize Mercedes-Benz's potential even in challenging environments."

As one of the best-selling luxury brands in China, Mercedes-Benz delivered 2.093 million vehicles globally in 2021, down 5% from 2.164 million in 2020, among which 739425 vehicles were sold in China, down 3.6% year-on-year, according to data. Mercedes-Benz said the main reason for the decline in sales was a lack of chip supply that froze production. By contrast, in the BBA camp, BMW delivered 2.2 million vehicles globally in 2021, of which 821134 vehicles were sold in China, with a year-on-year growth of 8.3%, making it the only brand with positive growth among the first-tier luxury brands. The latest data show that BBA sales in China in the first quarter of this year showed a downward trend due to factors such as semiconductor supply shortage and epidemic situation, among which Mercedes-Benz sales fell 13.7% year-on-year to 192077 vehicles; BMW sales fell 9.2% year-on-year to 208507 vehicles; Audi sales fell 22.1% year-on-year to 161621 vehicles.

With the release of Mercedes-Benz's brand-new strategic plan, Mercedes-Benz will also accelerate its electric transformation. According to the plan, Mercedes-Benz plans to stop selling fuel vehicles by 2030, i.e., the sales of new vehicles will basically be transformed into pure electric vehicles by 2030, and the carbon neutralization of new vehicle product lineup will be realized by 2039. In fact, as early as July last year, Mercedes-Benz has announced that it will vigorously promote the electrification of its models, from the previous "electric first" to "full electric" transformation, and this year to achieve all segments of the market Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle version, 2025 to achieve pure electric and plug-in hybrid model sales accounted for 50% of total sales. At present, Mercedes-Benz has launched a number of models in the field of electric vehicles. However, among the traditional luxury brands of automobiles, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, the three German luxury brands have all accelerated the pace of electrification. Among them, Mercedes-Benz brand has advanced relatively fast in the transformation of electrification. Data show that the cumulative global sales volume of Mercedes-Benz pure electric and plug-in hybrid models in the first quarter of this year was 67,800, up 37% year-on-year. Among them, the global cumulative sales volume of pure electric vehicles was 21,900, up 210% year-on-year; the global cumulative sales volume of plug-in hybrid vehicles was 45,900, up 8% year-on-year.

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