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Mercedes CEO Says Cutting Ties With China Is ‘Unthinkable’, Doing So Puts Germany’s Industry At Risk
Cutting ties with China is ‘unthinkable’, doing so puts Germany’s industry at risk, Mercedes CEO tells Bild am Sonntag.
China, the world’s largest car market, accounted for 18% of revenues and 37% of car sales at Mercedes-Benz in 2022.
China also accounted for about half of all sales at Mercedes-Benz luxury sub-brand, the Mercedes-Maybach.
German carmakers, including BMW and Volkswagen, depend on the Chinese car market, the world’s largest.
Cutting economic ties with China is unrealistic and attempting to do so would put most of Germany’s industry at risk, Ola Kallenius, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz has told the country’s newspaper, Bild am Sonntag.
China accounted for 18% of revenues and 37% of car sales at Mercedes-Benz in 2022. China also accounted for about half of all sales at Mercedes luxury sub-brand, Mercedes-Maybach.
“Our sales figures in China are increasing and I am quite optimistic that we will also grow this year. During the corona years, the wealthier Chinese in particular made extraordinary savings…This purchasing power should benefit us”, Kaellenius said.
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While Europe is trying to reduce its dependency on China, Kaellenius said decoupling from China, the world’s second largest economy, was “unthinkable for almost all of German industry”.
“The major players in the global economy, Europe, the U.S. and China, are so closely intertwined that decoupling from China makes no sense,” he was quoted as saying.
German carmakers, including BMW and Volkswagen, depend on the Chinese car market, the world’s largest, and Mercedes-Benz counts China’s Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd and Geely Chairman Li Shufu as its two top shareholders.
