In the automotive circle, there are many exciting conferences because of the models, but there are not many conferences that the speakers are excited about.
In 2017, when my media received an invitation to a Mercedes-Benz new car launch for the first time, a colleague of the company said to me like a fan: I especially like to watch the duan general lecture conference.
And this colleague's reason at the time made me sound very "strange": "Because his poetry is particularly good".
From then on, no matter where I watched the Mercedes-Benz conference, I would pay attention to the poetry culture in the conference.
So in this interview, someone also asked Duan Jianjun: "When it comes to the electric luxury market, what is your state of mind, can you use a poem to describe it?" 」
Duan Jianjun did not answer with ready-made verses, but rewrote a sentence, "When the chip is available, ask the number to the sky" - later he added a sentence from this year's New Year's message: "Work hard, do not slacken off."
The answer I heard was twofold, one was that the old business encountered new problems and was a little anxious; the second, the old industry found new opportunities and must do a good job.
Mercedes-Benz said that 2021 is the year of electric power, so 2022 is the time to push this door vigorously.
Luxury, the new subject of electric vehicles
Although new forces and traditional brands are inseparable in many dimensions, at one point, there is a rare consensus.
That is, even if the current electric vehicle market breaks out rapidly and the war situation is unpredictable, "the current domestic luxury electric market is more like the Spring and Autumn Period, not yet to the Warring States Period, not to mention the unification of the Qin Dynasty."
A series of policy environment adjustments, including the decline of subsidies in 2022, highlight that the market is moving towards a mature period with more diverse demand and fierce competition.
"From the perspective of the pure electricity market, the initial market was driven by state subsidies, and the fixed subsidy promoted the growth of relatively cheaper models. With the reduction of subsidy quotas and the decline of subsidies, market competition has become more sufficient."
From the data of 2021, among the more than 200,000 passenger cars, pure electric vehicles accounted for 13%, which is even better than the proportion of electric vehicles in the entire automobile market.
If you focus on the first-tier limited cities, especially the trend in the last few months, the proportion of electric vehicles has exceeded the traditional consensus as a watershed for the rapid outbreak of a class of models - 15% of this value.
All of these allow us to draw two conclusions:
-The development of luxury electric vehicles has led the development of the overall market in a way.
-More players will enter the eviction market, making the competition more adequate.
"Therefore, how to define luxury in the world of electric vehicles is in front of many companies, including Mercedes-Benz." "The luxury electric market will also stage a big drama."
Duan Jianjun is also well aware of the test of the ability of the system for the electrification transformation: "Mercedes-Benz is not only an actor, but also a director, but also an audience, and the final referee is the customer."
"The biggest challenge for our current sales is how to get test drives and show cars to every EQ dealership as quickly as possible."
Four have young people
When talking about the electrification of Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz itself used four "yes" to introduce, and I excerpted it here as follows:
There is a strategy: On July 22, 2021, Mercedes-Benz announced a strategic transition to "all-electric"; all brands will be electrified and fully prepared for fully all-electric by 2030 in markets where conditions permit.
There is technology: vision EQXX concept car is Mercedes-Benz's best energy efficiency model ever, equipped with a large number of recyclable materials, comprehensively break through technical barriers, reduce the wind resistance coefficient to 0.17, single charge range of more than 1,000 kilometers, the current concept car application of a number of functions have been applied to the production car.
There are products: By the end of 2021, Mercedes-Benz will sell 4 pure electric models in China, focusing on luxury electric mobility in different market segments.
Services: By the end of 2021, Mercedes-Benz five-star charging services will cover more than 365,000 public charging piles across the country, and brand exclusive charging will be stationed in 407 star stations in 106 cities; at present, reservation-based "one-click power-on" and other options have been launched, and services such as "plug and charge" will also be launched in the near future. In the same year, Mercedes-Benz officially launched the replacement and certification standards for officially certified new energy used cars, and launched services such as special testing of the three-electric system, making new energy vehicles more worry-free.
Among these four, the most important thing is to have a car with market appeal.
In 2021, in the annual sales of more than 750,000 vehicles, the proportion of new energy sales is not high, because the whole year is basically only EQC single model in the sales stage, returning to the large and medium-sized luxury electric SUV range where it is located, this data is not easy. However, I believe that Mercedes-Benz has clearly felt that in terms of technology, service and even market strategy, Chinese consumers' understanding of pure electric vehicles has come to a new level.
At last year's Guangzhou Auto Show, EQA and EQB were listed, and these two products are based on the existing reputation and recognition of the corresponding fuel models, which will well fill the market range that EQC cannot fully cover, and meet the needs of more young consumers.
The new EQS, which was officially completed at the end of the year, really defined the benchmark and benchmark of a large luxury pure electric sedan from the two levels of positioning and technology, and defined what the benchmark and benchmark should look like - so that the products with Mercedes-Benz brand characteristics, reflecting technical strength and even having uniqueness and forward-looking in the industry are the market position that Mercedes-Benz should be in everyone's mind.
So, you see EQS we all bought it wasn't.
In 2022, what Mercedes-Benz has to do is to bring products that meet the standards in electrification more purely and aggressively. And learn from the construction of Chinese brand competitors in the service ecosystem.
This is summed up in two ideas that pronounce the same:
Enrich the lineup of "new luxury" products and enhance its leading position in the field of electric drive and intelligent technology. In 2022, Mercedes-Benz will introduce 21 new models to the Chinese market, of which nearly half (8 models) will be new energy products.
Optimize the "heart luxury" service experience to meet the needs of electrified and digital customers.
Among them, the new EQE is a product that I am very concerned about, which inherits the technical advantages of EQS in industrial design and pure electric platform, and takes into account the timeliness advantages of domestic production and international synchronization, while there is no complete benchmarking of competitive models in the market segment, and it will be the main model that can truly interpret Mercedes-Benz's understanding of electrification in terms of quality and quantity.
What cannot be ignored is the upcoming PHEV model series of Mercedes-Benz, Duan Jianjun introduced, "In 2022, Mercedes-Benz will also bring THE PHEV models of C-class cars and S-class cars, and continue to explore and exert efforts in the field of plug-in hybrids", which is of great significance for guiding traditional fuel vehicle users to understand new energy vehicles and save energy and reduce emissions on the basis of not changing their car habits."
"Of course, the proportion of our pure electric models last year was not high, but this year's proportion of pure electric models will gradually expand, whether it is proportion or speed, it must be improved."
"We are confident that we will become a 136-year-old "four-year-old youth" and hope to continue to have a good performance on the road to electrification."
New technology, continue to gallop
In the exploration of a series of new technologies, including new energy, in the past few years, a default market concept has actually been formed: new forces explore the way, and traditional brands follow up calmly.
Therefore, when I heard the conclusion that "we hope to have the opportunity to become the first company in China to obtain autonomous driving certification in the future" from Duan Jianjun's mouth, I was quite surprised.
Innovation, rather than blind obedience, has also become the proper meaning of the new luxury in the electric age.
In other words, fans and fans of electric vehicles are also more inclined to evaluate the core values of a company through long-term direction, and the direction is clear, often more important than the amount of effort.
Mercedes-Benz, including the L3 level autonomous driving system that has just passed the certification in Germany, and the EQXX concept car that has attracted countless attention at CES 2022, are all sending a signal: Mercedes-Benz has never been technically outdated, on the contrary, the accumulation of the past is reaching the place of growth.
At a time when almost all domestic and foreign luxury brands have clearly formulated a timetable for turning to pure electricity, I think that the standard for re-evaluating the level and ability of each electrification should not be to see who enters the electrification earlier, on the contrary, whether to understand where the trend of technology is, and whether there is the ability to cater to these trends, is the key.
For example, VISION EQXX as the core concept of Mercedes-Benz to show the trend of electrification, neither the old road of using a stack of batteries, nor the arrogance of declaring that "endurance is enough", but the focus is on solving energy consumption and improving efficiency, which is the most core technical path, the result is that the endurance is a new record, "the body weight is comparable to fuel vehicles", and even synchronously shows the manufacturing capabilities such as integrated casting and the supply chain relationship with the Ningde era to cooperate in the production of batteries. Electrification in the next stage of the competitive elements, the car has been gathered.
For example, L3-level automatic driving is not a whim, in fact, Mercedes-Benz has a long history in the exploration of automatic driving, "36 years ago, Mercedes-Benz opened the exploration of intelligent driving technology through the "Prometheus Plan", and in terms of localization in China, in addition to verifying the test mileage, Mercedes-Benz also continues to explore in the field of automatic driving by investing in COMPANIES SUCH AS MOMENTA.
More impressive, is the details of mercedes-benz experience talked about in the exchange, the scene introduced such a technical parameter: "For example, the response time after continuous clicks on the screen of the car machine, we have tested, the current better car machine response time on the market is between 800 and 900 milliseconds, if you want to provide a good experience, the time should be 200 to 300 milliseconds, and the current better mobile phone can do 80 to 90 milliseconds."
With these cognitions, we have reason to believe that in the future Mercedes-Benz products, we can get the touch experience like the habits of consumer electronics, and similar experience levels have been gradually unfolding, "The current S-Class sedan is equipped with naked-eye 3D technology, when we look back at the naked-eye 3D screen from the head-up display system of the windshield, the screen does not directly present the depth of field, but first shows flat content and then expands the depth of field, which is more in line with the visual habits of the human eye. It's also a luxurious experience that we can bring to our customers in the electric age."
"These are the paths that Mercedes-Benz can continue to do in terms of product features and product experience in electric luxury."
In the interview, there is a passage that I can never find a suitable place in the article, because it is not specific, but it summarizes the overall situation, and perhaps it is a good idea to end it:
"Where there is luxury and beauty, there will be a story; all luxurious and beautiful things must be the same in appearance; and all luxury and beauty will always have a style." 」
"It has become fascinating, leading and desirable, giving more value and connotation beyond the product, which makes people yearn for it."
This may be what we think of mercedes-benz in the electric era.
Looking forward to Duan Zong's new poems next year.
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