"I have palpitations, no sense of security, and I don't want to buy new energy vehicles anymore" - this is the deepest feeling of Mercedes-Benz EQC owner Liang Yi (pseudonym) about this product.
Half a year after picking up the car, Liang Yi's EQC failed. "I was on my way when the car started to tip the fault. I also kept getting alarm notifications on my phone, and then I stopped on the side of the road, and as soon as I stopped, I couldn't start up again. "The 4S shop then inspected the vehicle and replaced the front motor for the vehicle, but the owner was not satisfied with the results and the 4S shop did not issue a test report.
"Changing the motor means that the registration date of the driving license must be updated, and my new car has only been bought for half a year and then it has become a second-hand car." Liang Yi said: "In an EQC national car owner group of more than 400 people, nearly three-quarters of the car owners have encountered the same situation as me. ”
On March 7, 245 Mercedes-Benz EQC car owners once again issued a joint statement, raising 7 questions and 4 appeals to Mercedes-Benz officials, asking manufacturers to immediately recall and solve the problem of vehicles.
This is the third time since the beginning of this year that EQC car owners have publicly issued a joint statement to defend their rights.
In February this year, Mercedes-Benz said that it would recall more than 10,000 EQCs to replace the improved electric drive module assembly for related vehicles free of charge, but the announcement showed that the recall start time was August 15, six months later. Some car owners questioned: "Why did the recall start on August 15?" What do we do with the remaining 6 months? ”
In this regard, Mercedes-Benz responded to a little information: "Since the electric drive module involved in this recall is produced by the overseas factories of relevant suppliers, affected by various uncertainties in the current overseas market, including the epidemic, the current reserves of the accessory cannot meet the immediate implementation of the recall." ”
But at the same time, "we are also actively coordinating the supply of spare parts with relevant parts suppliers to ensure that high-efficiency, high-quality recalls are fully launched on time on August 15." "At present, Mercedes-Benz's spare parts reserve can meet the daily warranty service. Before the recall is officially implemented, Mercedes-Benz can ensure that the customer's vehicle will be replaced in a timely manner in the event of a related failure. During the repair period, the dealer will provide the customer with a corresponding transportation vehicle or transportation subsidy. In addition, "if the motor is replaced before August 15, it is free of charge if it meets the warranty conditions." ”
But whether it's a recall or a warranty condition free of charge, the owner doesn't pay.
Some car owners told a little information that they were "tired but helpless". "Only changing the motor does not solve the problem, more than one owner has the same problem when changing the motor multiple times." I suspect that the EQC's problem is not in the 'repeatedly broken' motor, but in the design flaws. ”
The reason for the vehicle recall is determined by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the owner's speculation has not been confirmed. In this regard, Mercedes-Benz said to a little information: "We have noticed the doubts of some customers about the EQC recall measures and plans, and please give us a certain amount of time to understand customer feedback." For customers who are authorized to contact information, Mercedes-Benz will "contact all customers involved in the feedback one by one as quickly as possible."
But as Mercedes-Benz's first pure electric model, the EQC plays the role of the beginning of mercedes-Benz Group's electric transformation strategy. However, since its listing, this car has not only sold mediocrely, but also been repeatedly criticized by consumers in terms of product quality.
In the era of fuel vehicles, Mercedes-Benz is the absolute hegemon of luxury brands. But will this situation continue in the era of electric vehicles?
Controversial electric products
As the beginning of Mercedes-Benz's electrification transformation, EQC has been controversial in just a few years since its listing.
A little information collection shows that since last year, a number of EQC car owners have complained about the failure of the vehicle motor. "The mileage is less than 1600 kilometers, the driving computer shows that there is a problem with the drive system, sent to the 4S shop to find that the motor is broken, I asked to change the car." Some EQC car owners said so.
Another EQC owner described in detail the process of finding the motor failure: half a year after the purchase of the car, the vehicle coolant began to alarm, and then through the 4S shop to replenish the coolant, less than half a year, the vehicle test results showed that the front and rear motors should be replaced. "The 4S shop explained that the coolant liquid leaked into the motor and caused insulation, but I bought this car for less than 1 year, and it actually had to be overhauled, and the residual value of the new car must be greatly affected."
Even some EQC owners said that within 4 months of buying a car, the coolant was alarmed twice, and the 4S store replaced the front axle motor and the rear axle motor. In the EQC national car owner group, many car owners have encountered similar situations. For this large-scale motor problem, car owners suspect that it is caused by product design defects.
In this regard, since the beginning of this year, EQC's Chinese car owners have issued three consecutive joint statements. The latest one, which occurred on March 7 and was jointly released by 245 car owners, can be seen as a response to the recall plan issued by Mercedes-Benz in February.
Previously, in February, Mercedes-Benz voluntarily launched a recall program in the face of two joint statements by EQC owners: from August 15, 2022, the recall of some EQC electric vehicles with production dates from November 30, 2018 to December 15, 2021, a total of 10,104 vehicles.
Mercedes-Benz attributed the recall to manufacturing deviations in the electric drive modules. Mercedes-Benz said there may be a lack of sealing in the cooling system within the module, resulting in leakage of coolant. If the coolant is slightly infiltrated into the motor, the insulation resistance value of the high-voltage system may be reduced after long-term use, and the vehicle may not start in extreme cases.
But car owners don't pay for this explanation. "Is it a motor manufacturing problem or a vehicle design problem?" If it's just the motor that has a problem, why did the vehicle still malfunction after I changed the motor three times intermittently? Is there a problem with every motor I change? "There are questions from car owners.
He pointed out that Mercedes-Benz has not announced the total sales of EQC in China, and the recalled 10,104 EQCs may be the total of all Chinese markets. "Car owners in at least 400 crowds have received recall letters. We want to know the EQC's failure rate to determine whether the car is a manufacturing deviation or a design defect. ”
According to public data, EQC sold 3,863 vehicles in China in 2020 and 6,098 in 2021, for a total of 9,961 vehicles — almost the same as the 10,104 vehicles planned for the recall.
Most EQC owners expressed dissatisfaction with Mercedes-Benz's solution of replacing the electric drive module for the recalled vehicle for free. Some car owners said: "If it is useful to change the motor, I will not change the motor four times, and each time it is imported from Germany, and it will take about a month." ”
In addition to tracing the root cause of the problem, EQC owners also expressed concerns about the depreciation rate of the vehicle, the safety of the driving gap period before the recall, and the decline in mileage.
In the latest joint statement, EQC owners put forward four appeals to Mercedes-Benz: they hope that Mercedes-Benz can immediately launch a recall plan, eliminate safety hazards, and provide owners who have already replaced the motor with the option of returning and replacing the car according to the new three-guarantee policy. In addition, for all recalled vehicles that have experienced three-electric failure, a lifetime warranty, and a certain standard of second-hand car depreciation compensation is given to the owner of the motor who has replaced the motor.
Multiple recalls
This is not the first time EQC has launched a recall program.
In the Chinese market, the recall plan released in February this year is already the third recall of EQC. The previous two recalls occurred in April and August 2021, when the car was only sold in China for more than a year.
In April 2021, Mercedes-Benz launched a large-scale recall with a total of more than 2.6 million vehicles. Some EQC and some imported and domestic A-class, B-class, C-class, E-class, S-class and other models were recalled at that time.
The reason for the recall is a design problem with the vehicle communication module software, and when the vehicle collides and automatically triggers the emergency call service, there may be positioning deviations, rescue delays, etc. In response, Mercedes-Benz uses remote upgrade (OTA) technology to upgrade the communication module software for vehicles within the scope of the recall free of charge, so that users do not need to go to the store.
The recall in August last year was released by Mercedes-Benz entirely for EQC models. Mercedes-Benz recalled 796 EQCs because "some vehicles could not identify the status of the condensate hose for air conditioning, which may cause condensate from air conditioning to enter the crew compartment and corrode electronic components.".
At the end of 2019, EQC was officially launched in China at the same time, and the car also launched several recall plans in the German market, recalling nearly 20,000 vehicles in total. The reasons are substandard differential bolts and possible damage to the steering system harness during assembly.
But this does not affect the willingness of Mercedes-Benz fans to buy cars.
At that time, Liang Yi had just purchased the EQC and was one of the first Chinese owners of the model. He said bluntly that the purchase of EQC is based on two considerations, one is to conform to the general trend of new energy, and the other is completely the brand effect of Mercedes-Benz. "I am an old Owner of Mercedes-Benz, I have driven more than one Mercedes-Benz fuel car, there is no big problem, thinking that the new energy vehicles of big brands should not be bad."
But the fact is that six months after the purchase of a new car, the motor fails. Liang Yi had a lingering feeling about this: "Stopped in the middle of the road by the trailer of the 4S shop, replaced the motor, and then did not dare to open again, idle for more than a year." ”
He wanted to know what was wrong with the vehicle, but the request for a test report was rejected by the 4S store. Liang Yi said that the 4S store has a tough attitude, either change the motor, or just drive away.
At the same time, he called the Mercedes-Benz 400 hotline several times, only to get feedback such as "we have received a complaint message, we will submit it upwards". Subsequently, together with other owners, he sent an email to Mercedes-Benz's headquarters in Germany and received a reply similar to "We have received your questions".
In desperation, he joined hands with 67 other EQC car owners who also had motor failures, and issued a joint statement in January this year, requiring Mercedes-Benz to disclose information and solutions related to design defects, initiate recall procedures, and provide return and replacement services for owners who have replaced motors, and provide a lifetime warranty for all owners who have failed in Sandian.
Mercedes-Benz then launched a recall in February, but did not respond to other claims from the owners.
There are also new owners who have not yet had problems worrying: if their vehicles are not covered by the recall, does it mean that the motor has matured and is defect-free? What should the owner do if a new car has a similar failure? "We want Mercedes-Benz to offer a lifetime warranty for all EQC owners." Another owner with the same concerns said.
The first electric car was unfavorable
The official listing of EQC at the end of 2019 indicates that Mercedes-Benz has officially entered the luxury pure electric market. At that time, some media commented on the model: Mercedes-Benz stepped into electrification of transitional products.
However, only two years after its listing, EQC has been repeatedly questioned by the market due to quality problems. Today, even if it is only as a "transitional product", the car is not qualified enough.
Some analysts believe that "oil to electricity" or one of the root causes of its frequent quality problems. As mercedes-Benz's first pure electric model, EQC did not use the electric vehicle platform, but directly followed the GRC fuel model platform.
This has led to a series of "flaws". British car critic Jeremy Clarkson once complained in 2020: "As an electric vehicle, why does the EQC have a large area of heat dissipation grille?" The EQC is not equipped with a gearbox, why is there a paddle shifter on the steering wheel? Since it is a motor and not an engine, why is it built like an engine? ”
The more important impact is in terms of battery life. Based on the fuel platform, the battery, motor, and electronic control system cannot be installed in the most suitable position, and the unreasonable layout leads to low motor efficiency, inefficient battery energy conversion, and serious waste of battery energy. The EQC has a battery capacity of 79.2kwh, but the pure electric endurance is only 415 kilometers, compared with the Tesla Model 3, which has a battery capacity of 75kwh, and the pure electric endurance can reach up to 595 kilometers.
Some industry insiders have analyzed that the motor failure of EQC is also inseparable from the design defects of oil to electricity. For example, EQC has as many as 5 coolant interfaces, which is much higher than other brands of pure electric models, and the coolant leakage rate is greatly increased.
At the same time, the starting price of EQC exceeding 500,000 yuan has also dissuaded many consumers. The owner of the "not bad money" said that at that time, the purchase of EQC was entirely because of the Mercedes-Benz brand, and did not pay too much attention to the price, but then a series of motor failures in EQC made him chill.
As the first model of the Mercedes-Benz electric sub-brand EQ, EQC occupies an important position in the group's electrification transformation. Markus Schäfer, Mercedes-Benz's Director of Production and Supply Chain, commented: "With the production of the EQC, we have opened a new switch, the future of electric mobility. ”
However, EQC sales were not satisfactory. According to the data, EQC sales in 2020 are 3863 units, 2021 sales are 6098 units, in the Chinese market, its cumulative sales of about 10,000 vehicles - almost equivalent to the number of Mercedes-Benz recalls of EQC in February this year.
At present, in addition to EQC, Mercedes-Benz has also launched domestic pure electric vehicles EQA and EQB in China, the former priced at 365,800 yuan and the latter priced at 437,800 yuan. Like EQC, these two models are also "oil to electricity" products, but the pricing is about 100,000 yuan higher than that of the same level of fuel vehicles GLA and GLB.
The first electric product folded, EQA, EQB sales are also not good. In January, EQC sold 407 units, EQA sold 261 vehicles, and EQB sold only 207 vehicles.
In 2021, Mercedes-Benz will change its corporate strategy of "electric first" to transform to "all-round electric". Kang Linsong has stressed many times: "Our development direction is only one, that is, electrification." According to the plan, the group will achieve the goal of increasing the sales of electric vehicles by 40% in 2022.
In the future, how will Mercedes-Benz be "fully electric"?
Source: Blue Whale Finance