Xiong Guan Man Dao is really like iron, and now he steps forward from the beginning. In the new year, a new journey, the automotive industry ushered in a new atmosphere. FAW Group updated the new LOGO, new energy brands have increased prices, the joint venture brand is "awkward" for the stock ratio, and Daimler is announcing the change of name Mingzhi.
On the first day after the Spring Festival, Daimler announced that it had officially changed its name to Mercedes-Benz, and the company's website had taken the lead in launching a new company name, and its mobility company and Chinese subsidiaries would be renamed at the same time. Many people do not know Daimler, but they all know "Mercedes-Benz", and the volkswagen is familiar with Mercedes-Benz, which is just a business unit of Daimler.
According to the data, Daimler, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, is the world's largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, the world's largest luxury car manufacturer, and the second largest truck manufacturer. The prestigious Daimler has four business units, namely Mercedes-Benz Cars, Mercedes-Benz Light Commercial Vehicles, Daimler Trucks and Daimler Financial Services.
In addition, Daimler and Geely Automobile formed a joint venture company "Smart Motor Automobile Co., Ltd." to jointly operate and promote the transformation of the smart brand into a smart electric brand on a global scale. It can be said that Daimler is a huge automobile group. However, the Chinese people prefer "Mercedes-Benz", and the renaming of the trademark "Mercedes-Benz" has achieved cognitive integration, which is conducive to the improvement of brand value.
It is understood that since its establishment in 1890, it was not until Daimler-Benz was formed in 1926, and the cars produced thereafter were named "Mercedes-Benz". In fact, during this period, the "Daimler" brand did not belong to Mercedes-Benz, but to Ford Motor. It wasn't until 2007 that Daimler bought back the "Daimler" trademark from Ford for $20 million, but the model still could not be named "Daimler".
Daimler has undergone three name changes, the first being in 1998-2007, when Daimler Chrysler was formed, when the model produced by Beijing Benz was "Beijing Benz-Dyke"; the second time was in 2007, when Daimler sold Chrysler and became Daimler AG.
Daimler changed its name to the official source that "the group will refocus on the automotive business to cope with the electrification transformation of the automotive industry." "After the name change, the Mercedes-Benz Group will focus on the passenger car brands Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, Mercedes-EQ and trucks.
In fact, as early as last December, Daimler Truck & Bus had been spun off from Daimler as an independent company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Therefore, Daimler changed its name to focus on the passenger car business, which is obviously a bit redundant, but the renaming is more like a "cut", a farewell to Mercedes-Benz and the traditional image.
In 2018, Daimler announced that it would invest 10 billion euros in the development of new energy models and 1 billion euros in the development of battery technology. The goal is to release more than 50 new energy vehicles by 2022, including more than 10 pure electric vehicles.
Mercedes-Benz announced its "full electrification" strategy in 2021, which plans to achieve a fully electrified transition by 2030. The goal is to account for 50% of sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid models by 2025, and the first pure electric SUV EQC under the EQ sub-brand has been launched.
Compared with the new car-making forces, Daimler's electrification process is slightly slow, so it is also "looked down" in the minds of investors. Therefore, Daimler's name change is not limited to image unification, but focuses on releasing shareholder value, attracting more investors' attention, and aligning with Tesla and other new car-making brands.
Daimler CEO Ola Kaellenius believes that the move (Daimler's name change) will help increase the value of the company. Compared with tesla and other brands, the valuation of traditional car companies is relatively conservative, and at present, the market value of Daimler Group is about 85 billion US dollars. Tesla's market value once exceeded trillion. Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC Motor, once said that not only SAIC Motor, but also volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and so on have a certain gap compared with the stock prices of new car-making forces.
However, under the wave of intelligence and electrification, if you want to keep up with the tide of the times, it is not enough to change the name of the head force. Relative to the new forces of car manufacturing, the traditional car companies started with fuel vehicles, even if they are transformed into electric vehicles, giving the capital market less space to imagine than "Wei Xiaoli", which is a shackle that is difficult to break through.
Daimler's name change reflects the determination to transform electrification, but it is difficult to change people's inherent perceptions. Instead of changing the name, it is better to start a new stove, domestic car companies have launched high-end electric brands, such as Extreme Kr, Lantu, Zhiji, etc. have begun to emerge. In this wave of new energy, traditional cars such as Mercedes-Benz can only occupy an advantage in the competition and compete with tesla and other new car-making forces such as Tesla if they continue to increase research and development and master the innovation and development of core technologies.