In the past 2023, Mercedes-Benz trucks have been under too much pressure from the market side, including the huge impact of the outbreak of gas vehicles, the shrinking demand caused by the continued downturn in the freight market, and the doubts and wait-and-see from some users.
At the beginning of 2024, Mercedes-Benz trucks have reported frequent successes, and target customers in multiple regional markets have begun to actively order cars, which has released a clear signal behind it: from the official launch of localized products in December 2022, in more than a year, with the continuous deepening of the market's awareness of Mercedes-Benz trucks' localized products, Mercedes-Benz trucks have successfully completed the market introduction and entered a steadily rising growth period.
So, what are the typical characteristics of these recent car buyers? What made them choose Mercedes Benz trucks? With these questions, Shangchebang had in-depth exchanges with 3 typical customers.
Henan individual general goods: from domestic high-end to Mercedes-Benz trucks
newsIn an interview with Commercial Car Bang, Zhai Hongwei, who had just picked up three Mercedes-Benz Actros C with his friends, had packed up his new car at home at the moment and was about to start a new journey this year.
Guyang Town, Lankao County, Henan Province, where Zhai Hongwei is located, has always been known for its "large supply of goods and ruthless use of vehicles", and local users generally tend to choose high-end truck products. Zhai Hongwei is no exception, starting from Guyang to run the whole territory of Gansu, and then returning to Shandong through Hunan, the goods involve boards, mineral powder, logs, fertilizers, etc., mostly heavy goods, with a monthly commute of nearly 20,000 kilometers.
Mercedes-Benz truck Henan user Zhai Hongwei (right).
At first, Zhai Hongwei's plan was to buy a domestic high-end model of less than 500,000 yuan, and it happened that at that time, Mercedes-Benz trucks' localized products were launched, and he began to focus on Mercedes-Benz trucks. For this reason, he watched the Douyin live broadcast room for a long time.
After all, it's a new product, and you can't believe it just by listening to what you say in the live broadcast room, you still have to experience it yourself", it just so happened that Mercedes-Benz Trucks launched a trial car service, and Zhai Hongwei finally selected an Actros C 6X4 580 horsepower model after a test drive.
When the test car is fully loaded, the fuel consumption is ideal, it saves 2-4 fuel than the previous car 100 kilometers, and the safety is also incomparable with other cars", Zhai Hongwei said that this trial allowed him to deepen his trust in the Mercedes-Benz brand, as well as the recognition of the excellent vehicle technology and mature performance of German trucks.
Zhai Hongwei is a veteran driver with many years of experience, and every time he buys a car, an indispensable job is to "package the pipe", which is to see where the vehicle pipeline is easy to wear and tear, there are hidden dangers, and the package is processed in advance, and sometimes a car can not be wrapped in two days. But after bringing this Mercedes-Benz truck, Zhai Hongwei searched for two days, but did not find any place on the pipeline that needed to be packaged, "The pipe bundle is very exquisite, and there is no hidden danger of the external plug-in." They did what we thought of, and they did what we couldn't think of."
From domestic high-end to Mercedes-Benz trucks, from wait-and-see to final shot, Zhai Hongwei took up to a year. After all, investing in a heavy truck is not a trivial matter for every individual user, because only carefully selected vehicles can ensure the later returns. Zhai Hongwei said that the newly purchased Mercedes-Benz Actros C will be equipped with two drivers, and people will not stop driving to complete the transportation tasks entrusted by customers efficiently and safely.
Zhejiang small line: replace imported cars with localized Mercedes-Benz
newsIf Zhai Hongwei is a typical user who has switched from a domestic high-end brand to Mercedes-Benz trucks, then Zhang Wei from Ningbo, Zhejiang Province is a user representative who uses localized Mercedes-Benz to replace imported trucks.
Zhang Wei's sports car model has a certain typicality: individuals buy cars, and contract company lines. The special line sports car wins in the fixed line, point-to-point direct, and the supply of goods is relatively stable. The same is true for Zhang Wei, who mainly pulls auto parts and has been running the round-trip special line from Hangzhou to Guangzhou for seven or eight years. Recently, he ordered a new Mercedes-Benz Actros 6x2 530 hp model.
Zhang Wei (right), a user of Mercedes-Benz Trucks in Ningbo, Zhejiang
I have driven almost all kinds of imported trucks, and I bought one myself last year. But to be honest, the cost of imported trucks is too high for us, and the attendance rate is guaranteed, but with the current freight rate, a small fleet like ours can't afford it at all, and it also includes the salary of two drivers. Zhang Wei believes that at present, the local small group like him who is engaged in special line operation is very eager for the quality of imported cars, but the market is not good, and the cost must be controlled. Mercedes-Benz trucks can meet their needs after local production.
Zhang Wei is very familiar with Mercedes-Benz trucks, and he knows that Mercedes-Benz has a very high reputation in the market for fire trucks and large vehicles. With the localization of Mercedes-Benz trucks, he saw more and more friends around him and more and more cars on the road, so he decided to try this product, "About the second half of last year, I saw that there were more Mercedes-Benz trucks on the highway, and the imported truck was really not comfortable to drive, so I was ready to sell the imported truck and try the localized Mercedes-Benz truck." ”
Zhang Wei basically has to run 12 or 3 times a month on this special line, and fuel saving and safety are the two things he values most. After the actual line trial, it was found that the fuel consumption of the ACTROS he ordered was very ideal, only a little more than 27 liters per 100 kilometers, and it was not tired of driving for a long time. "I ordered this car also with a lifting bridge, the current cargo 5 axles can be satisfied, can reduce fuel consumption and tire wear, in the future to pull heavy goods and then use as a 6-axle car."
Choosing to replace imported products with localized Mercedes-Benz trucks, Zhang Wei believes that this is the most cost-effective choice he made cautiously according to the current market environment, considering the cost of car purchase and use.
Jiangsu factory logistics: from the first to the third
newsUnlike the above two users, Ren Dong, who is engaged in the factory logistics business for a large dairy group in Jiangsu, is not the first time he has come into contact with Mercedes-Benz trucks, and this is the third Mercedes-Benz truck he has purchased.
The first ACTROS purchased by a user of Mercedes-Benz Trucks Jiangsu factory logistics fleet
Ren Dong's fleet business is characterized by many and miscellaneous routes, "We basically run the whole country from Jiangsu, half of the high-speed and half of the national highway." Room temperature milk and milk cartons will be pulled. It operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year", Ren Dong said, "Not long after the localization of Mercedes-Benz trucks was launched, I mentioned a Mercedes-Benz Actros, which was mainly due to the fact that the overall operating efficiency of this car is higher than that of other models, coupled with its low fuel consumption, the cost of long-term use should be lower than that of other models." ”
This choice has been verified in Ren Dong's actual car use process, and the first Actros he purchased ran 180,000 kilometers in 11 months. "Whether it's running in a hot area or a cold place in Xinjiang, there's no pressure. And in terms of fuel consumption, it is less than 30 liters for 100 kilometers on the national highway, and about 27 liters for running at high speed. The same model, load, including the cargo box, is about 8 fuel less than the car I used before for 100 kilometers. At present, some cars in the fleet can even reach more than 40 fuel consumption when encountering bad road conditions or extreme weather. The gap is huge. ”
It is based on the good experience of using the first ACTROS that in October 2023, Ren Dong proposed another ACTROS C, and at the beginning of this year, he purchased a top-of-the-line ACTROS model.
What we are most concerned about is fuel consumption, and the feedback from drivers is that fatigue is low, safety is high, PPC power system predictive cruise, ACC adaptive cruise, ABA 5 fifth-generation active brake assist system and other safety configurations are very important. Ren Dong said: "Once a team like ours is named because of safety issues, it will have a great impact."
It is reported that Ren Dong's team capacity expansion plan continues, and in his opinion, compared with pure imported products with a price of millions of yuan, Mercedes-Benz Actros has more advantages, and the performance is enough.
The above three users from different regions and different market segments are just a microcosm of the many users of Mercedes-Benz trucks. After more than a year of precipitation and testing, more and more users began to choose Mercedes-Benz trucks, and more and more Mercedes-Benz trucks ran on the road. After the successful completion of the first phase of market introduction, Mercedes-Benz trucks will fully open the volume mode.