How Daimler Reacts to Tesla
»Electric now has a Mercedes!«
With the EQC, the company is demonstrating everyday e-mobility, as Daimler imagines it, "an electric car that is also 100 percent Mercedes," as Dieter Zetsche puts it.
The Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars probably also meant this: this is what an electric car looks like from a manufacturer who knows how to build cars. From his point of view, some of the new companies that emerged in the wake of the e-vehicle hype may have underestimated the complexity behind car production. He will certainly be a little annoyed that Tesla has succeeded in penetrating the upper segment successfully. On the other hand, it shouldn't be enough to simply put a new model on the market. There must be an overall concept behind it.
The purely battery-operated EQC now presented is only the first Mercedes-Benz model of the EQ product and technology brand. Zetsche speaks of a new era: "Electric now has a Mercedes!
In the EQC, Mercedes has brought together design, functionality, and service in a unique way and offers everyday e-mobility in a very special package. "Visually, the crossover SUV is a pioneer of avant-garde electric aesthetics," says the company, while at the same time embodying progressive luxury in its design language. In terms of quality, safety, and comfort, it is the Mercedes-Benz among electric vehicles and convinces with the sum of its features. Even the price - there is talk of around 60,000 euros - is considered suitable for everyday use in this class. Although the EQC resembles the well-known GLC, it should not be its little electric brother, as a Daimler spokesman emphasized. 80 percent were completely redesigned.
The EQC - power consumption combined: 22.2 kWh/100 km, CO2 emissions combined: 0 g/km - is characterized by high driving dynamics with its two electric motors on the front and rear axle with a combined output of 300 kW. Thanks to a sophisticated operating strategy, an electric range of over 450 km is possible in accordance with NEDC. With Mercedes me, EQ also offers comprehensive services and makes electric mobility not only interesting but also convenient.
The fact that Daimler sees e-mobility in a much broader context than just from the perspective of the vehicle type was demonstrated by various presentations on the topics of development, design, safety, drive, the EQ electromobility brand, and the production strategy for the new electric vehicle.
By 2022, Mercedes intends to launch a total of ten new electric vehicles on the market. This should also be a challenge for an automobile manufacturer with decades of experience in automobile construction, because building electric vehicles cannot be taken over one-to-one from the production of cars with combustion engines. There is no doubt that learning curves still have to be passed through and completely new experiences gained.
Electric SUV - a Good Decision for Earning Money
Industry expert Peter Fuß of the consulting firm Ernst & Young considers the fact that Daimler opted for a medium-sized SUV as the first vehicle in the EQ family as a good decision to earn money for the first time, because these types have proven equally popular in most regions of the world. "A German board of directors cannot step in front of its shareholders with high losses", he had recently told the Handelsblatt - an allusion to Tesla boss Elon Musk. However, he does not believe that the German manufacturers will succeed in making the big breakthrough. The charging, for example, is still too complicated for that.
"The Train Has Not Left Yet"
According to car expert Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch Gladbach, it is not too late yet. With the EQC and what the other German manufacturers have in their quiver, serious competition is growing for Tesla. Bratzel considers their market chances to be quite good: "It's not as if all the trains have already left.” This is certainly an interesting assessment for car manufacturers.
However, especially in the premium class, the topic was not tackled in time and for a long time not with the necessary consistency - with consequences for the reputation of the German car manufacturers: "The topic of electromobility has cost many innovation image points", Bratzel sums up. Germany, which for a long time has always been the ultimate when it comes to cars, is not at the forefront this time.
Germany Must Catch Up
However, Germany is not the lead market for electric mobility. A good 17,200 purely electric vehicles were newly registered in Germany in the first half of 2018, plus just under 16,700 hybrid cars. All in all, this represents an increase of 51 percent compared to the previous year and a market share of 1.8 percent, as Bratzel's institute recently stated in a study. However, measured against China, Euopean electric mobility leader Norway, or even the Netherlands, these numbers are average at best.
