Car show in Shanghai
Mercedes wants to conquer China with moving “supercomputers”
Mercedes-Benz is under high competitive pressure in China. The Swabians want to make the German brand with new models again.
Mercedes wants to gain a stronger foothold again with more infotainment and new products in China. “We will present the most efficient and intelligent cars we have ever built,” said Mercedes-Benz CEO, Ola Källenius, in Shanghai. He spoke of “supercomputers on wheels”.
China is the most important market for the Swabians and important for technical innovations, said Källenius. At his meeting with state and party leader Xi Jinping, he emphasized that China and Mercedes combine a “deep friendship”. Mercedes also works with the bytedance company behind the social media app Tiktok to integrate their model for artificial intelligence into the Mercedes cars in China, explained Källenius.
On the eve of the car show in Shanghai, Mercedes presented a long version of the E-Auto model CLA with a range of more than 860 kilometers. With the Vision V, Mercedes also showed a version of a vans that was not intended for the sale.
Mercedes-Benz had reported fewer car sales for the beginning of the year. From January to March, 529,200 cars and vans were discontinued and thus about seven percent less than in the first quarter of 2024. According to the company, the car sales were influenced by model changes in the entry segment, especially in Germany. There the CLA is now considered the hope of the Swabians.
The Stuttgart people also weakened in China. Mercedes with 152,800 vehicles still sold more than every third car in China. The paragraph fell by a tenth at the beginning of the year. On the important market, the Swabians now have strong competition from domestic manufacturers who take the rank at electric cars.
dpa
Source: Stern
