Mercedes-Benz lineup showcased to unleash potential of sub-brands

The mind-blowing rebound of China's economic climate could work in Mercedes-Benz's favor as a driving force to quicken the pace of localizing its global strategy, especially to strengthen its luxury positioning and sub-brands strategy.

Hubertus Troska, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for China, said on Friday that the company is convinced China maintains the biggest growth potential and continuous investment will be leveraged in product localization and software development.

"I think that as China keeps developing, we are observing that the premium market continues to grow, partly due to economic dynamics," he told China Daily.

In October, the company pledged to take initiative to announce a new strategy that aims at leadership in electric drive and pursues profitable growth in the luxury segment to global investors.

"This strategy lights up the path to our future with a firm aspiration to build the most desired cars in the world," said Jan Madeja, president and CEO of Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service during the Auto Guangzhou.

"We will now work out how to put our new strategy into a reality," he said. "We will definitely work on how to further strengthen our brand positioning in China as the luxury brand."

Twin-track approach

Two main measures would pave the way to realize this－defining the luxury edge in every product segment, as well as in its service and customer care, according to the company's statement.

The auto show witnessed the German premium automaker introducing at least 10 launched models, amid which most echoed its just regrouped sub-brands, such as Mercedes-Maybach, Mercedes-AMG and the latest one, EQ, which stands for its vision of carbon-neutral automotive mobility.

Mercedes-Benz embarked on its electric journey in China, starting with the EQC SUV in 2019. Its siblings, the EQA and EQB, together with the much-anticipated EQS, are set to land successively in the market in the near future, according to the company.

This lineup is considered as reinforcement in realizing its well-known vision of "Ambition 2039" that targets to electrify half of the automaker's car sales by 2030 and achieve complete carbon-neutrality by 2039.

The company also said it will reduce the number of combustion engine variants by 40 percent in next five years, and 70 percent in a decade.

The growth of the new energy vehicle industry is likely to be stimulated by the Chinese government, which targets for NEV sales to reach 20 percent of total sales by 2025, the State Council announced earlier this month.

"The big dynamic will come from the EV market," said Madeja. "If you want to grow in China in the premium car market, you have to grow in that market."

On the other hand, he said the importance of luxury in its services is on par with its perception in premium products.

In 2019, the company introduced the "Code of Conduct" and the "Golden Rules of Mercedes-Benz Premium Customer Care" the following year, aiming to place its customers at the very center of everything it does and make customer-centricity the core pillar of its brand culture.

"When you are a luxury brand, there's always a very thin line between being luxury and being perceived as distanced, or even cold," he said.

The company claimed China accounts for roughly 30 percent of its global business. But owing to disruptions from the pandemic, a twitch of anxiety was caused among observers during the early days after the outbreak.

This pessimism now looks misplaced with an 8 percent increase against the global curve in the first nine months, which saw nearly 570,000 units delivered in China. "The biggest experience was to see how effective China as a nation managed the pandemic and how disciplined it was managed, and that's the foundation of the success," said Madeja.

Sub-brands strategy

The global strategy has unambiguously stated the company will step up its effort to unlock the full potential for its unique sub-brands, including AMG, Maybach, G and EQ.

Customers base is set to be expanded by growing of those sub-brands, which will accelerate the company's development while driving substantial incremental income growth.

The road map was immediately synchronized in China, which saw the company showcasing products in Guangzhou from most of the subbrands, featured among the powerful Mercedes-Benz lineup of 28 show cars, amid which 10 were launched, including the all-new Mercedes-Maybach GLS SUV, all-new Mercedes-AMG GLB 35 4MATIC and the all-new Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 e 4MATIC.

Marking another step along the company's path to electric mobility, the all-new GLE 350 e 4MATIC, representing Mercedes' latest plug-in hybrid technology and coming as a coupe or SUV for choice to satisfy demand in different customer segments, made its market launch.

Certain to delight the market, it brings a number of innovations to the segment, including an e-range of over 100 kilometers for example, while also realizing rapid direct charging from 10 percent to fully charged in less than half an hour.

Today, in addition to plug-in hybrids, the company's SUV lineup also extended to sub-brand AMG.

Since entering China 13 years ago, AMG has gained great insight into local customer demand, developing with the market to bring a wider range of products, including the latest ones, the all-new Mercedes-AMG GLB 35 4MATIC and the all-new AMG GLA 35 4MATIC, which penetrate niche customer groups.

Underlining their identity as SUVs meanwhile is the AMG RIDE CONTROL suspension, bringing outstanding driving dynamics and ensured comfort even during long-distance journeys.

Besides, extending Maybach into the SUV segment for the first time, the all-new Maybach GLS SUV underlined the sub-brand's interpretation of sophisticated luxury through its launch in Guangzhou, with an array of three models, ranging from 1,588,000 yuan to 2,738,000 yuan.

"Brands need to light the fire we can gather around," Madeja quoted JP Kuehlwein, a brand builder, as saying. He indicated that those iconic brands are well-known and admired in the world.

"Our strategic goal is to unleash the full potential of our iconic sub-brands to cater to customers' demand."