Mercedes threatens a problem with luxury cars: sales too low - expert warns

Created: 01/12/2023Updated: 01/12/2023 09:08

By: Dominik Jahn

Mercedes with a luxury problem in China: Now it's about a new strategy.

© dpa/ Peerapon Boonyakiat

There must be a rethink at Mercedes.

The car manufacturer from Stuttgart is not getting going in the important market in China.

The luxury models in particular are becoming slow sellers.

It is undisputed that the auto industry is struggling with massive problems as a result of the war in Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis.

The published sales figures make this clear.

Audi misses its targets, Mercedes comes off a little better behind BMW, as echo24.de reported.

But the premium manufacturer could have a problem with the luxury cars.

As was recently read, Mercedes had to turn the price screw massively for some models.

Car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer was very critical of the imbalance of the car manufacturer from Stuttgart.

The reports on the planned job cuts in the group fit in with this.

Mercedes has to turn the price screw on luxury models

The reason for the problems at Mercedes is the sluggish luxury business in China.

The automotive group from Baden-Württemberg is stuck with its Mercedes electric sedans EQS and EQE.

According to a report in the specialist magazine

, Chinese media report that the Swabians have only been able to sell just under 12,000 e-cars there in the course of the year to date.

Accordingly, those responsible at Mercedes were forced to turn the price screw properly.

According to this, the EQS 450+ was offered for the equivalent of almost 115,000 euros as of November 16th.

That's about 32,000 euros less than before.

Car expert criticizes Mercedes for prices on luxury cars

As Dudenhöffer explained to the

, Mercedes should

: "One should think very carefully again whether this is a stable strategy for the future." Too much towards

vehicles focus is just too risky.

Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer

Ferdinand Dudenhöffer is a German economist and university lecturer.

In 2008 he became a professor for general business administration and automotive economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Duisburg.

Dudenhöffer repeatedly comments in the media on current topics in the automotive industry and transport policy.

However, the experts probably did not expect how quickly Mercedes began to stutter with its luxury fleet in China.

Dudenhöffer speaks of prices that were

, and Mercedes had also

.

Instead of continuing to rely on

, the car manufacturer must also focus on mass production again, as with the A-Class.

This has many cost advantages: software can be programmed once and used for other models.

You also have price advantages when purchasing batteries.

Mercedes boss Källenius is wrong with luxury models

For Mercedes boss Ola Källenius, the luxury problem in China is also a very personal problem.

In the spring he had already praised the new models as

, the Stuttgarter Zeitung refers to old statements by Källenius.

Now the crash landing.

What is also painful for Mercedes is the fact that, according to the report, Chinese manufacturers are already on an equal footing and this is causing a kind of discount battle on the market.

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Actually, Mercedes only wanted to react to this to a limited extent.

As the Stuttgarter Zeitung writes, Mercedes CFO Harald Wilhelm recently said: "We definitely have no intention of lowering the list prices and we have no intention of increasing the discounts." They would rather reduce the number of units than the prices.

Now the turnaround.

Joy about high profits at Mercedes should be clouded

At the same time, people at Mercedes were happy about the very good quarterly figures.

And the employees are also happy about the prizes.

The works council demands a really safe bonus, as echo24.de reports.

The current development should clearly dampen the joy about the first quarter.

The article also reveals that in the "top 20 best-selling electric cars in China there is only one German car" - and that comes from Volkswagen.

Of the two million cars that are sold there every month on average, only 100 were from the EQS.