The head of German auto giant Mercedes-Benz has highlighted how China's vibrant tech ecosystem offers a key engine for innovation, noting how the auto sector can closely connect with leading technology firms to drive development.
Ola Kallenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, was speaking in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN), where he said China's technology landscape has become a fertile ground for automotive innovation.
"The great thing with the tech ecosystem here in China is that you can work with both the big giants that you know from your smartphone world, whether it's ByteDance or Tencent or Alibaba, all of those companies. Everything that you want and you're used to in your smartphone ecosystem, should that stop at the car? Of course not. The car needs to be a smart cockpit, a convenient smart cockpit. It's almost like a butler that serves you," he said.
Kallenius also cited a decade-long partnership with Chinese autonomous driving firm Momenta that culminated in a notable milestone for the German carmaker back in February, when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz took the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class for a test ride through Beijing, experiencing an intelligent assisted driving system as he paid an official visit to China.
"Here we are now, less than 10 years later [in our partnership], and the German chancellor gets to drive in a Mercedes S-Class through Beijing [for the first time ever], [with] point to point navigation and autonomous [driving], in a partnership between Mercedes-Benz and Momenta that we took a stake in back then," Kallenius said.
Kallenius noted the importance of establishing relationships in China and said the Chinese consumer base generally being younger than in other markets further drives the need for more local collaborations.
"If there is a red thread through this, it's easy to engage. And it's very quick at building fast and strong relationships. And you need that. Why? Because Chinese customers, in general, compared to [those in] the rest of the world or our portfolio, are younger. [They are] very technology-oriented and willing to experiment," he said.
Mercedes Benz CEO cites China's strong tech ecosystem as key engine for auto innovation
