Mercedes Benz has chosen China, its largest market, to unveil its groundbreaking pure electric vehicle and advance its electrification strategy, according to Markus Schafer, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the luxury auto giant.
Stressing the company's dedication to making more sustainable products, Shaefer stressed the sheer size of the Chinese market as its reason for choosing the ongoing Beijing Auto Show for the debut showcase of its electrified G-class 4x4 SUV.
"China is our biggest market, our most important market. And secondly, Mercedes decided to go all electric with our fleet going into the next years and [it's] very, very important to provide customers access to an electric G wagon next to the combustion engine cart, so this is an iconic model, very important for the company. And we are so pleased to offer it now electrically," said Schafer.
The CTO said Mercedes Benz plans to increase its investment in China by expanding crucial Research and Development activities.
"We are the inventor of the automobile more than a hundred thirty years ago. And it's also our clear aim to define the premium segment of the future in the EV segment, very clearly. So every platform, every model, the AMG platform, the Mercedes platforms, the van platforms, they will all go electric, and many of these models will be produced in the future in China, here. So there's a substantial billion euro investment in China, in factories here and in localization, and very important in R and D activities," said Schafer.
"We are a producer in the Chinese market, so it's our biggest market. We're producing locally a substantial amount the factories. We are localizing our vehicles. Now seven vehicles are produced locally in the market. We opened our engineering office in Shanghai just last week, so increasing our engineering headcount to over two thousand engineers in China, just catering to the customers here, be close to the customer demand here, to the local wishes of customers and turning them into product," he added.
Schafer noted differentiated roles of Shanghai and Beijing in their strategy.
"We are on the steady increase of our headcount here as more and more responsibilities moving to China to the engineering team in China to do platforms, to do technology. But most important to do software, algorithms and electric drive. So, these are the main functions. Shanghai is a little bit more in the software side and the electric, electronic and platform is in the Beijing site," said Schafer.
The 2024 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition kicked off in Beijing on Thursday and will last until May 4.
Mercedes-Benz advances electrification strategy in China, world's largest auto market
