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According to foreign media reports, Mercedes-Benz said it would sell all 80 of its dealers in Germany, including maintenance workshops. "after very positive experience in various European markets, we are also studying how to establish group-owned retail branches in Germany more independently," the statement said. " In other words, this behavior is limited to the German market and does not involve the Chinese market.

According to the report, 20 branches, 80 dealers and 8000 employees will be involved, and each branch will be inspected separately on a case-by-case basis, with an estimated value of up to 40 million euros per branch. But Mercedes-Benz pointed out that it insisted that no branches would be closed, and that the move was not due to financial difficulties.

As of press time, Mercedes-Benz had not responded to the news.

Under the background of electric transformation, traditional automobile enterprises are faced with many challenges in marketing. In fact, Mercedes-Benz had already sold several showrooms in the UK, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Czech Republic. In 2021, Mercedes-Benz said it had reached an agreement with European dealers to shift from authorized distribution to agency sales, with the goal of selling more than half of Mercedes-Benz cars in Europe through agents by the end of 2023.

In May 2022, there were media reports that Mercedes-Benz plans to reduce its global dealerships by 10% by 2025 and adopt more direct and online sales. At that time, market news said that Mercedes-Benz would reduce its German showrooms by 20 per cent of its 10 per cent worldwide dealerships, but would add new stores in China. In addition, 80% of Mercedes-Benz's sales in Europe will be achieved through direct sales, and the number of regions where Mercedes-Benz will introduce the direct-selling model will increase from five to 20 by 2025, and Mercedes-Benz hopes to have 25% of its buyers through online purchases by 2025.

Why is the Chinese market adding new stores? Auto Industry concern believes that this may be related to the development of Mercedes-Benz in the Chinese market.

The latest figures show that Mercedes-Benz delivered a total of 765000 new cars in China in 2023, between BMW and Audi, an increase of 1.7 per cent year-on-year. It is worth mentioning that Ola K ä llenius, chairman of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, said in an interview with German media that Mercedes-Benz will make China, the world's largest car market, the center of the next-generation electric vehicle program starting in 2025. According to the plan, Mercedes-Benz will launch or launch 15 new / new generation products in 2024, including new pure electric G-class off-road vehicles, new Maybach EQS pure electric SUV, new CLE family, new long wheelbase GLC SUV plug-in hybrid models, new long wheelbase E-class plug-in hybrid models and so on.

As for the revelation that Mercedes-Benz will sell all its dealers in Germany, although officials have not yet responded to the news, foreign media reported that Mercedes-Benz insisted that it would not close any branches and that the move was not due to financial difficulties. In addition, Mercedes-Benz said potential buyers must bring "automotive retail expertise" to the negotiating table and provide job security for employees. "the aim is to ensure the long-term sustainability of regional employment and the existence and competitiveness of branches."

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