The Germany automotive brand Mercedes Benz has just announced a new strategic sequence that will focus on profitable growth in the luxury vehicle segment and target leadership in electric drive and car software.
The Chairman of Daimler, Head of Mercedes-Benz Källenius said:
'With this new strategy, we are announcing our clear commitment to the full electrification of our product portfolio, and our determination to ensure the business is fully carbon-neutral, in line with our Ambition 2039 target.'
Mercedes Benz's new strategy is a comprehensive program designed to drive the company forward both technologically and financially. And the six pillars are:
1. Think and act like a luxury brand
Mercedes Benz has always been a luxury brand. Moving forward, the brand is focused on being more connected to its luxury roots, making it an integral part of all products in their range, a part of customer interactions, as well as digital technologies. The brand is set to reshape its whole playbook, which includes its product portfolio, brand communications, and its sales network in order to deliver the true luxury experience to its customers: a luxury experience that the brand claims will be "electric, software-driven and sustainable."
2. Focus on profitable growth
The brand will also focus on taking action to improve and recalibrate its market strategy. Part of these will focus on optimizing the balance between volume, price, and channel mix in order to ensure improved contribution margins from Mercedes Benz's current and future portfolio. The brand will also focus its resources and capital on the most profitable parts of the market and the segments in which it competes, in order to ensure structurally higher profitability.
3. Expand customer base by growing sub-brands
According to Interbrand, Mercedes Benz is currently the most valuable luxury car brand in the world, and the brand wants it to stay that way. But Mercedes Benz's new strategy also aims to improve their sub-brands: AMG, Maybach, G, and EQ, with clear and targeted plans to fully realize their potential.
Mercedes Benz' AMG brand is ready to go to the next level with its high-performance electrification plans, all set to start in 2021. AMG's ties with Formula 1 will also intensify next year, to reflect its identity as Mercedes’ high-performance sub-brand. Maybach, a luxury car brand acquired by Mercedes Benz in the 60s, will focus on global opportunities, aiming to double its size and go electric. With the EQ brand, Mercedes Benz will address a new audience with progressive high-technology products, which will be built on dedicated electric architectures.
4. Embrace customers and grow recurrent revenues
Aside from boosting sales performance and renewing their lineup, Mercedes Benz is also committed to fostering life-long relationships with its customers. The brand aims for customers to love owning a Mercedes Benz and to be so satisfied by the brand-customer relationship that they stay with the marque for a long-time, ideally forever.
In a press release, the brand said: "Mercedes Benz will aim for even stronger loyalty, higher repeat purchases and rapid growth in recurrent revenues – from services and parts and also increasingly from Over-the-Air (OTA) updates and subscription services. The growing number of connected cars provides very significant revenue opportunities in the future, as the Mercedes Benz fleet will reach 20 million fully connected vehicles in total by 2025."
5. Lead in electric drive and car software
As is the growing trend with automakers nowadays, Mercedes Benz is aiming to take the lead in electric drive and car software with its "ambitious product development targets and the accelerated introduction of cutting edge technology." As part of its "Electric First" strategy, Mercedes Benz has announced four new electric vehicles based on its upcoming large-car Electric Vehicle Architecture or EVA. The EQS luxury sedan is the first vehicle to come out of this new dedicated architecture and is set to reach the market in 2021 with an electric range of more than 700 km on a single charge. The EQS will be followed by the EQE, the EQS-SUV, and the EQE-SUV. In addition to this, AMG, Maybach, and G will also feature all-electric models.
Starting from 2025, multiple further models will be added to the electric vehicles portfolio on the second all-new dedicated electric platform, the Mercedes Benz Modular Architecture (MMA) designed for compact and medium-sized cars.
6. Lower cost base and improve the industrial footprint
Mercedes Benz will also improve its profitability and cash generation, as well as take actions to prepare for the future of the company and to accelerate its transition to an electric lineup."2020’s events have confirmed that the company’s break-even point is too high and, with the transformational challenges ahead, further actions will be needed," says the company. "Mercedes Benz will therefore take significant new steps to reduce the cost base and improve the industrial footprint in the period to 2025."
This message for the business owners:
don't hesitate to shift your strategy or make some modulations to your plan. don't be afraid to change your brand identity, do not stick in one concept for 30 years, and says: there are no new customers', be more flexible to change your concepts according to the market and customers' behavior. to get new results you have to try new things.
Note: giant companies like Mercedes Benz when they change any small detail for their brand it costs them too much money, but they keep doing it and they don't think about the expenses, because simply they looking to the results. the more attempts you do the more results you gain.