KUALA LUMPUR: Mercedes-Benz Malaysia (MBM) continues to see sustained demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and expects sales to remain robust in 2024.
In recent weeks, major automobile manufacturers such as General Motors, Ford Motor, and Tesla have announced that they will pull back their spending on EVs, as demand slows.
Nevertheless, Mercedes-Benz Cars Malaysia chief executive officer and president Amanda Zhang said the group is witnessing a surge in demand for its EVs, with sales reaching 174,500 units worldwide – a 82% increase year-to-date through September.
“The slowdown in EV demand does not align with our observations given that on a global scale we are witnessing a remarkable surge in growth. This trend is consistent in the Malaysian market, indicating a similar upward trajectory. Looking at our sales records, we are growing at a very fast pace.
“As a good corporation, we always aim for profitable growth. As such, we always want to hit the sweet spot to have the right production, the right inventory, and to sustain our profitability goal,” she said in an interview with the media at the launch of the new Mercedes-Benz EQE 500 4MATIC SUV on Wednesday.
In the domestic market, Mercedes-Benz experienced a 400% increase in EV sales compared with last year.
When it comes to competing with other car brands, Zhang said Mercedes-Benz’s focus goes beyond price rivalry and extends to delivering a comprehensive customer experience.
“When we talk about Mercedes-Benz, we are talking about the whole experience overall. We are upgrading all our retail outlets to the latest luxury-retail standards. Wherever our customers choose to interact with us, whether it is online, or at the physical touchpoints, we want to provide that luxurious experience.
“I believe that a true luxury experience is not always about customers having to come to our showroom. We want to provide all the possibilities, be it online or offline, so that our customers can decide where and when they want to interact with us. This means we will organise roadshows or pop up stores to bring our brand to the fans. This is where we want to compete and stand out amongst the competition,” she said.
Zhang said Mercedes-Benz has made substantial progress in its EV lineup, especially with regards to travel range. The EQE SUV, for instance, can travel up to 552km, while the EQS has a range of about 696km.
“However, despite these advancements, range anxiety remains a prevalent concern among the public regarding EVs, indicating an existing gap in public awareness. Hence, going forward, our goal to sustain the demand of EVs is by generating more awareness of our portfolio because there is a lot of technical knowledge (travel range, speed of charging and the coverage of our charging network) that is still not out there yet. The more we go out and share these expertise and knowledge, the more we can also influence the speed of (EV) growth here.
“We will be very much focused on these topics, with the ultimate goal of offering a luxurious experience for our customers that entails not only the care that we provide them, but also about the ease of doing business and giving them the peace of mind,” she said.
Mercedes-Benz Cars Malaysia general manager for pricing and product management, Christian Grimberg, said the group’s EV offerings instil range confidence among customers, focusing not only on the travel range but also on charging speed.
“We are extremely proud of the EQE and EQS models because all of these cars are built on our first purposely designed battery electric vehicle platform. If you compare their ranges, with our EQA and EQB models which are on petrol–driven platforms or even with other competitors, you will recognise that the range on paper, as well as in real life, forour EV models is higher than most of the competitors,” Grimberg said.
