Mercedes's new cars boost demand as luxury automaker seeks to 'grow fast' on EVs
Mercedes says it now has a 'full range' of EV SUVs in North America.
After German luxury giant Mercedes-Benz (MBG.DE) reported another strong quarter, the question for many industry watchers is how long the good times can last.
Mercedes's focus on top-end vehicles, customizations, and new electrics means higher prices for customers, but for Mercedes’s huge North American business, demand is still robust — and that’s because of its new vehicles.
“Just in the first half-year, we had the launch of the fifth electric vehicle — the EQE SUV, a US-made electric vehicle with great success in the market — we launched our GLC, the medium-sized SUV; so we have pretty fresh and new models in the market, which attract customers and keep the demand high,” said Dimitris Psillakis, Mercedes-Benz North America president and CEO, in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
Strong results in North America, as well as globally, allowed Mercedes to boost its full-year industrial free-cash flow and EBIT forecasts for the year. North America saw revenue jump 10.8% in Q2, and with the region roughly accounting for 30% of sales, its effect on the automaker is substantial.
Besides a focus on top-end vehicles like the G-Wagen, S-Class, and Maybach exclusive trims, a big focus on Mercedes's growth is its electrified product line, dubbed EQS. Psillakis notes with the addition of the EQE SUV this year, for 2023 Mercedes has a full range of EV SUVs in the US starting with the “top entry” EQB, all the way to the “top end” EQS SUV, and coming soon in the fourth quarter, the range-topping “ultra-luxury” EQS Maybach SUV.
“We plan to grow fast on zero-emissions vehicles — it's an aggressive plan at the moment,” Psillakis said, adding that Mercedes is “more or less doubling the market on EVs ... with 14% share of electric vehicles in our product portfolio, which is pretty impressive for the US market.”
One of the biggest roadblocks to EV adoption, and Mercedes's long-term plans to be fully electric, is charging. Mercedes is using a multiprong approach to boost charging infrastructure in North America, first with its proprietary charging network, its partnership to use Tesla’s Supercharger network and incorporate the NACS plug, and finally with the recently announced charging joint venture with six other automakers.
Psillakis said the multiple networks are all about convenience.
“I think our effort is to offer to our customers the maximum convenience in charging, so our vehicles will be capable of charging in all available high- or superchargers in the US,” he said. “That would give convenience, that would take away the fear of, ‘Where can I charge my electric vehicle?’ That's about our strategy.”
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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