Mercedes-Benz Cars strategy.

Mercedes-Benz has always had luxury deeply embedded in its DNA, and the company’s thoughts and actions will focus even more strongly on it in the future. Mercedes-Benz Cars’ claim is to offer the most desirable vehicles on the basis of a combination of pioneering technologies, exceptional aesthetics and integrated sustainability. In this manner, the company also makes a connection between two essential characteristics — its strong roots as an automaker that has created numerous style-defining icons, and the pioneering spirit with which Mercedes-Benz Car is driving the further development of the automobile. Mercedes-Benz underscores this for the ninth successive year with its top position as the world's most valuable luxury automobile brand in the current “Best Global Brands” 2024 ranking.

The goal for the future is a brand that embodies the many facets of the lives of our customers — from lifestyle and technology to the digital realm, mobility and culture — and does this by working together with cultural pioneers in a manner that is as inspired as it is unexpected. We intend to achieve this goal by creating an emotional bond with the Mercedes-Benz Cars brands and getting people excited about them in connection with every product and in every encounter we have with customers and anyone who is interested in or is a fan of the brand.

Mercedes-Benz Cars wants to make the transformation towards an all-electric future profitable and to continue its growth in the lucrative market segments. This is underlined by the strategic target of an adjusted return on sales of 10% or higher. A clear positioning as a luxury brand helps to maintain higher profitability across all product categories — Entry, Core and Top-End. Along with a clear focus on the customer, the important ways in which this can be accomplished are by focusing and further developing the portfolio, achieving strong pricing, and securing the margins. These means will also be employed for the electrification of the models throughout the entire Mercedes-Benz brand portfolio. The positioning as a luxury brand will also be used to achieve Mercedes-Benz Cars’ goal of sustainable high profitability as a division that can rely on its solid business system, even in challenging times.

In the Top-End segment, Mercedes-Benz Cars boasts an extraordinary brand portfolio that goes beyond the Mercedes-Benz core brand. This portfolio also includes the Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach brands, as well as the iconic G-Class product brand. The Mercedes-Benz Cars Strategy will be used to unfold the full potential of the Mercedes-Benz brand portfolio, accelerate the development of the Top-End product category and achieve additional EBIT growth. Brandspecific formats and customer experiences are also to be used to address new target groups. At the same time, even stronger interrelationships are to be established between the brands, in order to exploit synergies in customer communications, for example.

In order to intensify and further boost customer loyalty, the division is systematically creating unique customer experiences along its entire customer journey and addressing customers in an individualized and data-driven manner within the Mercedes-Benz ecosystem. One of the basic preconditions for this is comprehensively digitalized sales and service processes that, for example, are enabled by the stepwise transformation of sales to the direct sales model. In this way, all channels — online and offline, and from consulting to service — are to be adapted to the dynamic customer requirements and flexibly developed further. Moreover, customers are to be provided with tailored and market-specific offers that enthuse them about more than just the purchase of vehicles. These offers include such things as aftersales services and spare parts as well as over-the-air (OTA) updates and digital extras. In this way, Mercedes-Benz Cars aims to continuously increase the attractiveness of its products and also ensure that they retain their value.

Mercedes-Benz Cars is endeavouring to become a leader for electric mobility and the digital experience. The division is creating the essential preconditions for becoming all-electric, with ambitious product development goals and the market launch of new locally emission-free and software-driven technologies. The pace of the transformation is determined by market conditions, infrastructure and consumer behaviour. Mercedes-Benz can flexibly offer vehicles with both all-electric drives and electrified high-tech combustion engines into the 2030s. To this end, production has been set up to be flexible in terms of drive systems. Efficiencies between new and existing model series are sustainably utilized for the further development of the product portfolio. In 2025, the new CLA will be the first derivative of the Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA), featuring both all-electric vehicles and vehicles with electrified high-tech combustion engines. In 2026, Mercedes-Benz Cars plans to introduce the Mercedes-Benz Electric Architecture (MB.EA) and AMG Electric Architecture (AMG.EA).

In order to further underscore the claim to leadership with regard to the digital experience, and to meet customers’ needs even better in future, Mercedes-Benz Cars will introduce its own data-based and updatable Mercedes-Benz Operating System (MB.OS) with the launch of the next generation CLA. In this way, the customers will be able to access a unique brand experience that includes special new digital extras and product features while control of the interface with customers can remain in the Mercedes-Benz ecosystem. MB.OS will create the basis for an even faster and more flexible response to customer requirements in the future, including during a product’s life cycle. Another aim is to establish smart connectivity between the vehicle, the cloud and the IoT world (Internet of Things). Data security and data protection play a key role for Mercedes-Benz Cars here.

Since December 2021, Mercedes-Benz has been the world’s first automotive company to meet the legal requirements of UN-R157 for a conditional driving automation driving system (SAE Level 3¹) with DRIVE PILOT. Shortly thereafter, the market launch took place in Germany and certain US states. In the year 2025, Mercedes-Benz will introduce the next certified version of DRIVE PILOT in Germany. This will enable the system to follow a vehicle ahead in a conditionally automated manner on the outside lane of the highway at speeds of up to 95 km/h under certain conditions. With this, Mercedes-Benz offers the world’s fastest SAE Level 3 system.

¹ SAE Level 3:The automated driving function takes over certain driving tasks. However, a driver is still required. The driver must be ready to take control of the vehicle at all times when prompted to intervene by the vehicle.

The consistent continuation of profitability targets is a fundamental component of the sustainable successful transformation of the company. Mercedes-Benz Cars aims to further optimize its break-even point and financial strength and has taken additional steps to reduce the cost base across all cost types and to improve its industrial footprint.

In order to safeguard and increase the competitiveness of the Group and the resilience of its business activities, Mercedes-Benz Cars intends to manage its supply chains even more actively.