Perhaps subconsciously, daimler has always been "Mercedes-Benz", but in fact these are two completely independent companies, both founded in 1886, when the two sides still had a direct competitive relationship; until 1926, Daimler started with the name Daimler-Benz, the two companies underwent the first structural reorganization, and "Mercedes" was named after the daughter of a car entrepreneur.
After the establishment of Daimler-Benz, it also made several "big moves" adjustments, in 1998-2007, it was renamed DaimlerChrysler, and the second time it was renamed in 2007, Chrysler was sold to Cerberus Capital Management, and the name was also changed to Daimler AG. Since February this year, there has been no such thing as "Daimler AG", because Daimler AG will officially change its name to "Mercedes-Benz Group" from February 1 this year. The main reason for the name change is that the company will be able to unlock shareholder value and focus more on the electrification of the automotive industry, which is the third time in the company's history that the name has changed.
Daimler AG is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles, the world's largest luxury car manufacturer, and the second largest truck manufacturer. Its joint stock company also includes four major businesses, including Mercedes-Benz Cars, Mercedes-Benz Light Commercial Vehicles, Daimler Trucks and Daimler Financial Services.
In October of last year, Daimler issued a major statement, shareholders voted to change the company's name to Mercedes-Benz Group AG, with four unique brands, including Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach and Mercedes-EQ; and then in December, Daimler announced that it would split its trucking company from Daimler and go public independently.
In fact, in addition to changing the name to Mercedes-Benz, Daimler also said that after the name change, investors may begin to see Mercedes-Benz as an electric vehicle manufacturer, a competitor to Tesla or Lucid Motors, implying that the renamed Mercedes-Benz Group will focus on the field of cars and trucks and focus on the transition to electrification. Daimler Trucks, on the other hand, is focused on developing the high-margin heavy-duty truck business, while also focusing on power batteries and hydrogen-fueled vehicles.
Mercedes-Benz Group wants to transform to the electrification of automobiles, with the influence of Mercedes-Benz cars in the global market, it is reasonable to say that the new Mercedes-Benz Group has great innate advantages, such as a certain brand awareness and a certain basic consumer group, if you focus on the transformation to electrification, then it is very likely to become the next Tesla or Lucid, and even become another car representative brand in the new energy market. But from today's form, Mercedes-Benz has not completely abandoned its fuel vehicle business, while Tesla and Lucid, all their products are 100% pure electric, so if they want to fully electrify, then Mercedes-Benz will have to abandon the existing internal combustion engine business, which is also a huge challenge and breakthrough for Mercedes-Benz.
Although it has a lot of competitive advantages in the field of fuel vehicles, Mercedes-Benz also knows that new energy vehicles are the future development trend, so Mercedes-Benz has also started to work early and convert its current fuel vehicle lineup into electrification, and new BEVs such as Mercedes-Benz EQS and EQE are a good start.
For future product planning, Mercedes-Benz said it will launch 21 new products this year, including 8 pure electric and plug-in hybrid models. By the end of 2021, Mercedes-Benz will introduce a total of four pure electric models in China, including EQA, EQB, EQC and EQS, while EQA, EQB and EQC have been officially put into production in China. In addition, Mercedes-Benz will offer pure electric models for all its market segments by 2022; all new models released after 2025 will be built from pure electric platforms.
It is not difficult to see that Daimler's change of name to Mercedes-Benz is actually paving the way for the company's transformation, and the independent operation of different business units is also a crucial step in the rebranding of the brand. The future development of Mercedes-Benz will focus on the electrification and digitalization of vehicles, and a new "Mercedes-Benz" is coming, so we stay tuned.