The year 2024 has only just begun. But some car manufacturers are already skeptical about the end of the year. Mercedes Benz is one of them. Renewed problems with the supply chain and unplanned expenses could gnaw away at sales. The traditional German company probably sees only one solution to this problem – a later exit from the combustion market.
Mercedes Benz doubts its own targets
In the field of electromobility, Mercedes Benz is one of the most popular German manufacturers with its upper mid-range and luxury class e-cars. However, despite its success to date, the Stuttgart-based company is cautiously pessimistic. The company with the iconic star label actually wanted to offer an all-electric portfolio by 2030. In the meantime, the head of the car manufacturer Ola Källenius is already warning that the goal once set may not be achieved. Only if the conditions on the currently depressed car market allowed it would it still be possible to achieve the target.
In the same breath, Källenius emphasized that, as an alternative, Mercedes vehicles with a combustion engine could still be brought onto the market for many years to come. Competitiveness is therefore a given in both directions. With his statement, the head of Mercedes Benz naturally makes himself vulnerable. After all, climate protection activists in particular saw the Stuttgart-based company’s former plan as a real ray of hope in the automotive industry. It is therefore not surprising that Greenpeace now speaks of an “oath of disclosure in climate policy”.
- Even a Maybach can be fully electric: Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV: Luxury goes electric
Star is more important than CW value
With electric cars, every kilometer counts. In order to get the most out of the batteries, the so-called CW value also plays an important role. This indicates how much air resistance the body has to “suffer”. At Mercedes, however, looks seem to be more important than the CW value. After all, the EQS is now to be given a classic upright star on the hood as the pinnacle of the company’s own e-car line-up.
At least that’s what the insider blog JESMB.de says. However, if the streamlined shape is still more important to you, you can still opt for the flat badge. In my opinion, however, this is a sympathetic form of reticence. I take a much more critical view of giving up the pioneering role in electromobility. Especially as the competition is not sleeping and could soon overtake German manufacturers in this sector.
