Introduction: Speaking of Mercedes-Benz over the years, although the sales volume has not always won, it has not lost than making money.
Not long ago, Mercedes-Benz Group AG (hereinafter referred to as Mercedes-Benz) took the lead in releasing the 2021 financial report among the three major Ashkenazi luxury brands, and the data showed that in the 2021 fiscal year, the group's turnover reached 167.971 billion euros, an increase of 9% year-on-year; EBIT reached 29.069 billion euros, an increase of 340% year-on-year. It not only set a record high for the group's performance, but also the most dazzling presence among the world's major car companies that have recently announced results.
1) When will BMW become a "double champion"
Of course, this also makes Mercedes-Benz's old rival - BMW, which has just ushered in its 106th birthday, under pressure, although whether in the global or Chinese market, BMW will press Mercedes-Benz in 2021 and successfully win the luxury sales championship, but it seems to be a big difference compared to the level of making money.
Although BMW has not yet released its 2021 operating results, combined with the performance of the first three quarters, it is unlikely to surpass in the final fourth quarter and achieve a double champion of sales and profitability.
First of all, from the perspective of revenue level, BMW achieved revenue of 82.83 billion euros in the first three quarters, an increase of 19.2% year-on-year, although the growth rate was slightly higher than Mercedes-Benz, but the cumulative revenue of the latter in the first three quarters has reached 124.58 billion euros. Secondly, in terms of EBIT, which better reflects the operating conditions of the company, although BMW increased sharply by 314% year-on-year to 10.913 billion euros, Mercedes-Benz increased by 624% to 14.512 billion euros.
As far as the current data is concerned, Mercedes-Benz's revenue and EBIT in the fourth quarter have further expanded month-on-month, so the possibility of BMW wanting to achieve profitability reversal in this year is not very likely.
2) Mercedes-Benz: sell less, make more
Although it has once again handed over the sales champion to others, the key to supporting Mercedes-Benz to achieve "selling less and making more money" is actually the "business economy" that Mercedes-Benz has always used well - high-end premium.
In China, by reviewing the market performance of Mercedes-Benz this year, it is not difficult to find that it is focused on high-end models such as G-class, S-class, and even Maybach, and with high-end domestic models such as E-class and GLC-class, the average price of its bicycles has exceeded 320,000 yuan, and the net profit of bicycles has also exceeded 43,000 yuan. In addition, the proportion of Mercedes-Benz's sales in the Chinese market in the past two years has increased significantly, second only to Audi, with good high premium market potential.
In addition, Kang Linsong, who succeeded Zetsche in 2019, has also achieved initial results in a series of drastic reforms after taking office, as the first non-German CEO in the history of Mercedes-Benz, nearly 30,000 employees have been laid off in the past 3 years, although this is not good news for many Mercedes-Benz employees, but it does make Mercedes-Benz successfully slim down, reduce costs and increase efficiency.
Like many traditional car companies, the biggest challenge for Mercedes-Benz at present is to create a complete new energy product line as soon as possible and face the new power brand represented by Tesla. Although the revenue and production and marketing scale of the two are not the same day, considering the growth rate of the latter and the gross profit margin of nearly 30%, Tesla has become a major problem for traditional luxury car manufacturers.
3) How long can Mercedes-Benz's "Business Classic" be read?
This "business economy" of Mercedes-Benz may also have to be replaced, otherwise it is not to mention blocking Tesla, these temporary advantages mentioned above, in the face of bmw of "fast horse and whip", I am afraid it will be difficult to make it continue to maintain its lead.
The high-end model strategy mentioned above is actually in the industry environment of chip shortage, the moped market is inclined to the seller's market, in other words, under the same industry challenges, Mercedes-Benz chose a high premium, while BMW chose to seize market share, which has to mention BMW Brilliance's recent round of high-level personnel changes.
Almost at the same time as Mercedes-Benz released its earnings report, the board of directors of BMW Brilliance, which coincided with the equity change, announced that from April 1, 2022, Dai Hexuan, the company's current senior vice president of technology and production, will succeed Wei Lande as president and CEO of BMW Brilliance, and Kun Shuo, the current director of the Dadong plant, will take over as the company's senior vice president of technology and production from April 1, 2022.
Some people have explored some interesting rules by combing through the changes in the management of BMW Brilliance, such as the fact that the candidates for its president and CEO generally have relevant experience in production, procurement and manufacturing. Combined with the challenge of last year's chip shortage, BMW can still achieve growth in the global market and Chinese market, becoming the only one among the three major Ashkenazi luxury brands to achieve growth, and Dai Hexuan, who was the head of production at the time, was indispensable.
For BMW, although the current sales ratio of the Chinese market ranks last among the three major German luxury brands, its growth rate is the fastest of the three, showing full horsepower and a steady posture.
It is not difficult to see that BMW obviously has a very mature and firm judgment on the next Chinese market.
In addition, in the field of new energy, BMW is also obviously more than one position ahead of Mercedes-Benz, when i4, iX at a price lower than the market expectations have been listed, Mercedes-Benz has to because of quality problems, its first pure electric vehicle model EQC launched a large-scale recall.
In addition to BMW Brilliance, in fact, as early as December 2021, Audi China also reported the news of the change of coach, Wen Zeyue succeeded Nexer as president of Audi China on January 1, 2022.
It is worth mentioning that Nexer, who took office in March 2020, is the longest-serving president of Audi China. According to statistics, the first two presidents served for only 9 months.
It is not difficult to see that in the face of China's luxury car market in 2022, German luxury brands have made in-depth adjustments in all aspects such as personnel, production capacity, products, and even supply chains.
Next, BMW and Volkswagen Group's Audi will also release their 2021 results, who is the most profitable luxury brand in 2021? Who will successfully lead the luxury car market in 2022?