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Daimler Chief : China To Remain ‘Super Market’ Next Year
China to remain ‘super market’ into next year, Daimler China chief has told journalists.
China, the world’s largest car market, is responsible for a third of Daimler’s revenues.
Despite the pandemic, Daimler’s car sales in China jumped 12% last year to a record 774,000.
But Daimler’s market share of electric vehicle sales is still small in China.
In China, it competes with Chinese EV makers, including Xpeng, Li Auto and NIO, as well as U.S. EV giant Tesla.
Daimler’s China sales will remain strong next year, the German autogiant’s China chief, Hubertus Troska, has told journalists. He added that he was confident that Mercedes-Benz could grow its share of the country’s electric vehicle market.
“Everything speaks for the fact that China will be a super market next year as well,”
China, the world’s largest car market, is responsible for a third of Daimler’s revenues. Despite the pandemic, Daimler’s car sales in China jumped 12% last year to a record 774,000, and over 8% growth has been registered this year so far.
But Daimler’s market share of electric vehicle sales is still small in China, where it competes with numerous Chinese electric vehicle makers, including Xpeng, Li Auto and Nio as well as U.S. EV giant Tesla.
Troska, however noted that most Chinese companies sell in the price range of 35,000 euros ($39,270) or less, which is below Daimler’s range.
With the number of Daimler EV models for sale in China set to grow from one to five next year, Troska said Daimler will be able to better establish itself in the higher-priced premium car segment.
Troska further revealed that the demand for fossil-fuel burning cars is likely to last for some time in China. He pointed to the large swathes of the country outside urban centres where charging infrastructure could be harder to come by.
“It’s a huge country, so in my view there will still be internal combustion engine cars in China for some time,” Troska said.
Daimler has said that all new vehicle platforms will be electric from 2025, as it plans to producing only all-electric vehicles by 2030.
