@simcity Snapshots can be useful for headline stats on a platform like X, but one has to dig a bit deeper to understand the story behind the stats, and what it all means.
I personally have tried out the EQE and EQS as I was genuinely considering both models for my own use, but I found the cons outweighed the pros. It feels like the cars were trying to be so technologically advanced and efficient,
that MB forgot that people don't necessary want cars that look like a slippery bar of soap.
"Mercedes-Benz will drop the ‘EQ’ prefix for future electric vehicles and focus on more appealing exterior designs, according to one of its engineering chiefs.
Speaking to UK publication Top Gear, Mercedes-Benz vice president of engineering, Christoph Starzynski, said
criticism of its electric cars’ looks as bland has been taken on board, with the company
now working on more pleasing future designs."
I think MB will continue to face strategic challenges with EV sales, until the
new CLA is launched which promises to be address all their failures so far with their existing EVs, but throw in overall efficiency of 5.2 miles per kwh.
As
@Rbrian said, context is really important
From
Dec 2024
"
Mercedes-Benz's works council chief said the carmaker must urgently win back market share and rethink its China strategy so sales did not drop below 2 million a year, which he said would be 'unacceptable' to labour representatives.
'We would not be satisfied with any less than two million cars a year - we need that to use our German sites to capacity,' Ergun Lümali said in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published on Monday.
His comments come as tension increases between management and labour representatives in Germany's car industry over how to protect market share in the face of cheaper competition from China. Executives insist they must make deep cuts to survive while labour representatives blame management for misguided strategies.
Mercedes-Benz Cars sold 1.46 million cars in the first nine months of this year, down 4.3% from the same period of 2023, with demand hit particularly by weakness in China's economy and
EV-only sales trailing far behind BMW.
The luxury carmaker expects full-year sales slightly below 2023's 2,043,800 units.
Chief Executive Ola Kaellenius in 2020 turned back a decades-old strategy of chasing sales volume to focus on the industry's most profitable segments, launching a programme to cut costs by over 20% by 2025 to take the brand further upmarket.
But some investors have advised the carmaker to amend that strategy, with
premium EV models failing to take off in China in the same way as more affordable cars have done.
'We need growth, growth, growth,' said Lümali to FAZ. 'New strategies are needed.'"
Looking at the
US market for MB in 2024
"Mercedes-AMG posted a record fourth quarter with sales of 16,169 units.
The G-Class also had its best year ever as customers snapped up 10,987 SUVs."
Mercedes bet big on electric vehicles and this appears to be a bust. EQB sales were down 36% for the year, while the EQE lineup fell 39%.
The range-topping EQS lineup was even harder hit as sales plummeted 52% to a disappointing 6,963 units. Even the eSprinter is struggling as the company only found 828 buyers."
The company’s other sedans experienced a decline as the CLA was down 2%, while the E-Class was off by half as much.
The S-Class fared far worse as sales fell 25% to 8,809 units."
Maybe
this decision will stimulate EV sales in the USA in 2025, given the non Tesla charging network in the USA is terrible for those who do road trips.
"Mercedes-Benz announced Thursday that starting next month, its EVs are getting Supercharger access.
The company will soon start selling EVs equipped with the Tesla North American Charging Standard (NACS) port later this year, and it's also selling an adapter at dealers so existing Mercedes EVs can plug in to Superchargers.
The adapter is $185 and, says Mercedes, 'the only adapter tested and certified for safety and compatibility with all MercedesBenz BEVs and any NACS DC fast charging point.'"
PHEVs are
becoming more attractive in general to new car buyers in the US, over BEVs and MB have benefited
"
Mercedes’ own data proves that demand for plug-in hybrids is on the rise, as it reported a 470% increase year-over-year.
This is partly explained by the fact that the manufacturer had more PHEVs on sale in 2024 compared to the year before. It currently sells five PHEVs in the States, which offer class-leading electric-only range."
And for the US market, whilst some in the UK and Europe may feel that PHEVs are pointless, for many American consumers,
it will be appealing, especially with MB's products.
"Bloomberg is out with a report this week that extols the virtues of what it calls 'super hybrids' —
cars with enough battery-only range to handle most people’s daily driving needs without assistance from the onboard gasoline engine. In fact, it gets downright giddy when talking about the Mercedes GLC 350e, a plug-in hybrid that can travel up to 50 miles on electrons alone, no molecules needed.
The Mercedes GLC 350e offers four zones of climate control and its headlights project icons such as the image of a pedestrian or a bicyclist on to the roadway to warn drivers of hazards ahead. But
the SUV’s most impressive trick, Bloomberg says, is that it can travel from Ossining, New York, to Midtown Manhattan and back again on battery power alone without ever once calling on its turbocharged, four-cylinder gasoline engine for extra power.
;You start covering a customer’s daily driving entirely when you get into technology like this, which changes the game,' said Bart Herring, vice president of sales and product at Mercedes-Benz USA. The GLC 350e provides 50 miles of electric range, which Herring calls the 'magic number,' because the majority of US drivers do not drive more than 50 miles a day.
Bloomberg enthuses that auto executives have created a 'killer app' for the large number of American drivers between EV-curious and EV-skeptical. It calls the car a 'super hybrid,' and suggests it and plug-in hybrids from other manufacturers may be the key to unlocking the door to the EV revolution in America.
In the third quarter of 2024, US consumers bought three times as many Mercedes plug-ins as they did in the same period the previous year.
Roughly half of those buyers had never owned a Mercedes before. 'You find customers who still aren’t sure about electric and this speaks to them. I have to say, I didn’t quite get it until I drove one for nine months. I barely ever touched gas.'"
Where will the growth come from the MB in years ahead? India for sure.
This is from
July 2024 and having visited India twice last quarter, the growth in very wealthy households is astonishing (yes, I know that a lot of people are still very poor) and the ambition to have a lot more EVs on the roads is really tangible.
"German luxury car maker Mercedes Benz India is betting on its battery electric vehicle (BEV) range now
as it posts 60 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) rise in BEV sales, resulting in a penetration of 5 per cent in overall sales in the first half of the calendar year (H1CY24), doubling from 2.5 per cent last year.
The company launched the EQA 250+ on Monday priced at Rs 66 lakh, which comes with a range of 497-560 km for a single charge. At the same time, it also launched a facelift version of the EQB 350 (5-seater version) priced at Rs 77.5 lakh.
The company also started bookings for the upcoming electrified G-Wagon from Monday, which is expected to be launched in the second half of the year.
In the second half, Mercedes Benz plans to launch two new BEVs — the G Wagon electric and the EQS SUV Maybach — taking its total EV portfolio in India to six models. It currently has three models — EQB, EQE SUV & EQS sedan — apart from the launch today.
What is interesting is that in order to push the EV offtake amongst consumers,
the company is offering an assured 67 per cent residual value for its cars at the end of four years.
Speaking to Business Standard, Santosh Iyer, MD and CEO, Mercedes Benz India, said: 'We are confident of our product and technology, and, therefore, we are offering a similar residual value like our internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.'
Iyer said that they produce their BEVs in India and have achieved a 30 per cent localization.
As such, Mercedes posted its best-ever H1 calendar sales in H1CY24, delivering 9,262 cars between January and June this year. This is a 9 per cent Y-o-Y growth.
Around 55 per cent of this comes from SUVs, and 25 per cent from top-end vehicles (those priced above Rs 1 crore).
The Maybach was the fastest-growing portfolio in H1CY24 — clocking 108 per cent growth. The company did not share segment-wise breakup of sales.
Iyer said, 'We had a lot of pent-up demand on the Maybach, and the supplies came in H1CY24.
Our top-end vehicles continue to contribute 25 per cent of our overall India sales. And we delivered a lot of Maybachs in the first half of the year.'
The waiting period is still 3-12 months for a Maybach, he added."
group.mercedes-benz.com
