Mercedes-Benz's electrification strategy has shifted to "all-electric", and it plans to sell only pure electric vehicles by 2030. In order to achieve the predetermined goal, Mercedes-Benz must show enough courage in the Chinese market.
On March 18, Mercedes-Benz announced that it has expanded its R&D layout in China and officially established a Shanghai R&D center, focusing on cutting-edge areas such as intelligent interconnection, autonomous driving, software and hardware development and big data.
Mercedes-Benz said that the establishment of Shanghai R&D medium-sized is to further capture the latest trends in the Chinese market and better meet the needs of Chinese and even global customers. This is another example of Mercedes-Benz's increased investment in local innovation after the Beijing R&D Technology Center.
In November 2014, Mercedes-Benz established the first R&D center in China in Beijing. The R&D center has invested more than $100 million and includes five dedicated R&D departments and an advanced design centre, 80% of which is staffed by local talents.
According to Mercedes-Benz's plan, in the future, Beijing will serve as the company's main base for R&D activities in China, while the Shanghai R&D center will further explore the huge technological innovation potential of the Chinese market. In Shanghai, the R&D team will also work closely with the design team in areas such as user interface design and development to create an overall luxury digital experience.
According to Tang Shikai, a member of the Board of Directors of Mercedes-Benz Group AG and responsible for the business in Greater China, China has become a key technology innovation center and a major driver of industry transformation, and China's strong R&D layout will promote Mercedes-Benz to "lead the development of electric drive and automotive software." ”
An Erhan, head of R&D, platform management and supplier management of Mercedes-Benz China, said that the Shanghai R&D center will focus on recruiting and cultivating more local talents, drawing on "Chinese inspiration" and developing for China's innovation. The R&D center will recruit talent from areas such as software openness, artificial intelligence, cloud technology, data analytics and vehicle testing.
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With the continuous expansion of The scale of China's auto market, more and more multinational auto companies are no longer satisfied with building factories in China to produce cars. From the earliest Shanghai GM Pan-Asian Technology Center, to Ford, Toyota, BMW, Hyundai and other giants have successively landed in China, as well as Not to be left behind, Bosch, Delphi, Visteon, Continental and other parts companies, the localized R&D strength from China is becoming more and more eye-catching to the world.
In recent years, with the advancement of the "new four modernizations" of automobiles, auto giants have successively reduced or even stagnated their investment in the field of fuel vehicles, and embraced intelligent and electric vehicles, and Mercedes-Benz, as a luxury brand, is no exception.
In line with Mercedes-Benz's disclosed Vision 2039 strategy, the company will achieve carbon neutrality for passenger cars by 2039. In July 2021, Mercedes-Benz changed its strategy from "electric first" to "full electric", aiming to provide pure electric vehicles for all market segments in 2022, with new energy vehicle sales accounting for half in 2025, and each model has launched a pure electric version, and only pure electric vehicles will be sold by 2030. In addition, from 2022-2030, Mercedes-Benz's investment in pure electric vehicles will exceed 40 billion euros.
In order to achieve the predetermined goal, Mercedes-Benz is naturally inseparable from the help of the Chinese market. At present, China is the largest regional market for Mercedes-Benz in the world. In 2021, Mercedes-Benz sold more than 2.4 million vehicles worldwide, of which China delivered a total of 760,000 vehicles, accounting for more than 30%.
At the same time, China has ranked as the world's largest new energy vehicle market for 7 consecutive years, and there is still a very high room for growth. According to Mercedes-Benz's plan, 21 models will be introduced in the Chinese market in 2022, and will "accelerate the comprehensive electric transformation with intelligence". At present, Mercedes-Benz sells a total of four pure electric models in China, of which three were launched at the end of last year.
However, due to the high price and many competitors, the premium ability of the "three-pronged star emblem" in fuel vehicles has not been reflected in electric products.
According to the data of the Association, the total sales of all new energy vehicles of Mercedes-Benz in China in 2021 will be less than 15,000, less than half of the car of The NEW CHINA's new force, WEILAI EC6. Of the less than 15,000 units sold, nearly 8,000 are supplied by the plug-in hybrid model E350eL, and several pure electric models account for less than half.
It can be seen that how to launch more grounded smart electric products through the R&D and design center located in China and narrow the distance with young Chinese consumers has become a just need for Mercedes-Benz.
It is worth mentioning that mercedes-benz announced the establishment of the Shanghai R & D center at the same time, especially mentioned "to meet the needs of global customers", perhaps in the future in overseas markets, we can see more Mercedes-Benz models developed and designed by Chinese engineers.
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