In the face of competition, what we have to do is call for artillery fire in the positions where the smoke of gunfire is most intenseBecause we have no way back, we can only move on. Beijing Benz Sales Service *** hereinafter referred to as Mercedes-Benz) President and CEO Duan Jianjun said at the New Year's communication meeting.
The smoke of gunfire in the Chinese market is not uninspiring. In 2023, Mercedes-Benz will sell nearly 2.5 million vehicles worldwide, with China contributing nearly 30% of sales to 7650,000 units.
Although it is still the largest market, the performance of each model varies. On the one hand, the Mai ** and G-class off-road vehicles increased by 21% and 22% year-on-year respectively, making Mercedes-Benz once again top the sales list of high-end luxury cars with more than 1 million and 1.5 million yuan; On the other hand, although the delivery of pure electric models has doubled,But 2 .90,000 units (Mercedes-Benz brand only.) Smart brand domestic delivery 420,000 units) is not so impressive. As a comparison, the global sales of Mercedes-Benz brand pure electric models are 22260,000 units, up 73% y/y.
I think the automotive market has entered 'Volume 2.'0' era. With the successive opening of the knockout rounds represented by the competition of new forces, the entire market can be said to have transitioned from the 'Spring and Autumn Period' to the 'Warring States Period', and began to appear a trend of vertical and horizontal. Duan Jianjun said in an interview:
In the face of market competition, Mercedes-Benz will always have its own standards, its own bottom line, its own determination, and will play cards at its own pace, with high-quality operations and strong organizational resilience to resist risks and achieve business progress.
In the face of the knockout round, Mercedes-Benz's determination in the Chinese market comes from? And how will the cards be played?
Strategy: No price for volume
We don't belittle others to exalt ourselves, tooIt is not simply a matter of exchanging price for volume”；"WeWill adhere to the 'Mercedes-Benz standard'”；"During the market development period, weMomentary profit margins are not valuedand will not directly transfer the cost to the end customer"; "WeWe don't just chase short-term numbers, but focus more on the long-term value of brands and products"......At the communication meeting, Duan Jianjun repeatedly emphasized these "nos" and "wills".
Duan Jianjun, President and CEO of Beijing Benz Sales Service***.
From the market level, Mercedes-Benz's statements are not simply "hard-mouthed".
Sang Zhiwei, a member of the expert committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association and an analyst of the automobile dealers industry, according to the survey data: divided by transaction priceModels priced at more than 400,000 yuan account for 54% of Mercedes-Benz's sales share in 2023It accounts for 12 of the sales of models with a turnover of more than 300,000 yuan in the overall market9%, the share rose 01 point, sales of 410,000 units, down 6 percent year-on-year6%。
Standing in a "high position", Mercedes-Benz temporarily avoided the first wave of luxury impact from the new forces.
Sang Zhiwei's statistics show that last year, brands such as Ideal, Weilai, Denza, Zeekr, Lantu, AVATAR, Equation Leopard, Yangwang, and Gaohe entered the 300,000 yuan level. This is the core of a traditional luxury brand. Sales of 30 models were 820,000 units, up 125% year-on-year, with nearly 460,000 new vehicles added. Including traditional luxury brands, the overall sales in this market last year were 4.57 million units, and the number increased to 730,000 units.
In other words, the new forces occupy 18% of the 300,000-yuan market, and contribute 63% of the growth.
The cockpit of the all-new Mercedes-Benz long-wheelbase E-class.
2.The 90,000 pure electric sales show that Mercedes-Benz is clearly not in a hurry to give a "suitable" ** in the Chinese market. **The revenue, profits, and even sales volume contributed by the value model have become the confidence of its persistence, waiting for market changes:
On the one hand,Market clearing is accelerating. By the end of 2023, there will be less than 450 new energy manufacturers registered on the national monitoring and management platform, of which only about 50 will sell more than 10,000 units a year. And 100,000 vehicles a year is the threshold line for car companies.
On the other hand,The transformation of user needs is imminent. Duan Jianjun said that as the penetration rate of new energy crosses the critical point of 15% of the "new technology diffusion curve", the user group enters the early mainstream consumer group, and customer demand will gradually change from "first-class-oriented" to "value-oriented", and "value" is what Mercedes-Benz is good at.
This year, Mercedes-Benz will launch the first pure electric model of the G-Class and the new pure electric G-Class off-road vehicle, the all-new Mercedes-EQS pure electric SUV, and the all-new Mercedes-AMG pure electric EQE 53 SUV, as well as the new long-wheelbase GLC SUV, and the plug-in hybrid model of the E-Class to further enrich its new energy product matrix in China.
We will return to the essence of business, find the balance of potential energy in cost, business structure, business model and market environment, achieve the strategic goal of long-term profitable growth, and achieve energy level jump. Duan Jianjun said.
Change: Mercedes' move
However, not in a hurry to participate in the ** war at the moment does not mean that Mercedes-Benz intends to wait for the new forces to attack.
This year, Mercedes-Benz's new generation of pure electric products based on the MMA platform will be officially unveiled, and will be domestically produced in 2025, equaling the technological advancement level of the head camp of China's new forces.
Mercedes-Benz's self-developed vehicle operating system.
In terms of underlying technology, the MMA platform will be the first to land on Mercedes-Benz's self-developed vehicle-level operating system MBos，"A chip-to-cloud architecture that supports the decoupling of hardware and software brings great freedom and flexibility to Mercedes-Benz's R&D team. Senior Executive Vice President of Mercedes-Benz (China) Investment *** and Head of R&D and Procurement of Mercedes-Benz China Ou Lifu told the Electric Vehicle Observer.
In terms of core functions, models on the MMA platform will be able to achieve high-end intelligent driving assistance functions at the city pilot level, as well as memory parking functions.
Senior Executive Vice President of Mercedes-Benz (China) Investment***, Head of R&D and Purchasing of Mercedes-Benz China, Ou Lifu.
From a hardware perspective, we believe that the development of autonomous driving is not simply based on the number of sensors such as lidar or cameras, and some sensors may be used very infrequently. There are different paths to autonomous driving solutions, and one way to do this is to start equipping the car with as many sensors as possible and then subtract it. We do not support this line of thinking and do not think it is wise.
This is because each sensor sees or detects the data and transmits it to the on-board computer for processing. The more sensors there are, the more powerful the computer is, which is very inefficient and consumes a lot of energy, and may even affect the range of the car.
We think it is wiser to use the right number of sensors with more powerful algorithms, and we need wisdom when making hardware equipment, not more is better, and we must know how to make trade-offs. Ou Lifu described the hardware solution of MMA platform intelligent driving.
The Electric Vehicle Observer speculatesThe MMA platform model is on top of Nvidia's Orin computing platform, and may not use lidar. Instead, it uses cameras plus 4D millimeter-wave radar, as well as other radar hardware solutions. In terms of algorithms, BEV+transformer+occupancy (occupancy network) is applied to the mainstream technical route that is currently converging. Directly take the advanced route of efficient hardware platform + advanced software algorithm.
It is not easy to go from technical concept to functional implementation, and Mercedes-Benz is also making every effort to strengthen its ability to implement technology in China.
This year, Mercedes-Benz's R&D building in Shanghai will be officially opened, and the current R&D team in China has reached 2,000 people, making it the most comprehensive R&D network outside Germany, covering forward-looking design, e-mobility, intelligent connectivity, autonomous driving, localization and vehicle testing.
In 2023,Mercedes-Benz China's local R&D team led within 12 monthsThe R&D and mass production of the L2+ intelligent driving system equipped with the new E-class have been completed, which can realize the high-speed navigation function that does not rely on high-precision maps, and will increase the ability to go on and off ramps this year.
Mercedes-Benz is already equipped with L2+ intelligent driving assistance system.
In order to ensure the high safety of the Mercedes-Benz L2+, the Mercedes-Benz China team conducted extensive tests in different cities, and each ramp was tested at least 20 times, covering different time periods, traffic conditions, and changes in lighting environment. Moreover,After the test team finds the problem, it will work with the German team to debug day and night, and involve it in the "China speed".
It's not just the new forces, we're also rolling. Wang Xin, executive vice president of Mercedes-Benz (China) Investment and head of Mercedes-Benz China's R&D of autonomous driving and Internet of Vehicles, said: As an international enterprise with global R&D resourcesThe 'cooperation and co-creation' of Mercedes-Benz's R&D teams in various markets is a great advantage, not only to share resources, but more importantly, to be able to use the strengths of R&D teams in various places to find the best solutions for different markets."
With the maturity of future functions, in the next step of Mercedes-Benz's product system in China, some models equipped with binocular cameras can be upgraded to have the same high-speed navigation function as the new E-class through OTA.
In addition to the best products and products, Mercedes-Benz is also strengthening the service and energy supplement network construction of the new forces.
*Since 2018, Mercedes-Benz has introduced a new retail experience as the core of the entire networkThe "2020 Network Upgrade Plan" will make adaptable adjustments according to the overall situation of the Chinese market, the progress of industry technology development, and the characteristics of each regional market and each dealer；** and in Mercedes-Benz launched the aggregation this yearThe "super app" of the four-in-one customer online contact point of the official website, APP, WeChat platform, and vehicle-machine interconnection is based on data analysis of customer needs to reach and understand customers more efficiently.
At present, Mercedes-Benz has nearly 600 dealer outlets that can provide pure electric exclusive services.
In terms of energy replenishment, Mercedes-Benz super charging stations have been put into use in Chengdu, Foshan, Qingdao, Chongqing, Kunming, Wuhan, Suzhou, Changzhou and other places, and continue to expand. The supercharging network, which is jointly built with BMW, will also start operating in China's key new energy cities this yearIt is planned to build at least 1,000 supercharging stations and about 7,000 supercharging piles in China in 2026.
We will continue to expand the matrix of high-end luxury products, continue to provide multiple driving methods, and enhance the intelligent experience. Duan Jianjun said: "In general, high-end luxury is a relatively narrow market, but also a more qualitative market. We will continue to do these three things to solidify our strength in this segment. ”