The Dynamic China Market

Authors

Hubertus Troska,
Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, Responsible for Greater China, Beijing, China

Year

2019

Print Info

Fortschritt-Berichte VDI, Reihe 12, Nr. 811

Summary

China is the biggest single market for Mercedes-Benz. We remain confident in the long-term development of the Chinese passenger car market, despite a decline last year for the first time in more than two decades, because the fundamentals for future growth remain intact, such as continued innovation initiatives, consumption upgrade and urbanization in the country.
Mercedes-Benz has the youngest customer base in China, a demographic inclined to make premium cars their first purchase. In this age of growing connectivity, most Chinese customers embrace cutting-edge technology in various fields. Through their smartphone, they tend to not only read the news, chat with friends, but also conduct online mobile payments these days. Many things starting from the simple task of buying a cup of coffee to making doctor appointments are done at the tap of a button. And in another instance, 49.3 billion Euros were generated in sales revenue on Singles’ Day last year, the biggest shopping extravaganza in the country. On that day, mass consumption resulted in 1.4 billion parcels being delivered across the country, the first batch within a mere eight hours.
Evidently, the mobile phone has become an integral way of life for many Chinese people.
The convenience a smartphone brings also benefits them when travelling abroad – over 40 countries and regions offer the Chinese mobile payment methods WeChat and Alipay.
The characteristics of the Chinese market form the basis of our six-pillar strategy in the country: integrated sales organization, extended dealer network, tailor-made product lineup, further expansion of local production, continued local R&D efforts and leveraging financial
services. Continued efforts in these six areas have resulted in our China success story over the past years.
Looking ahead, we also need to adapt our C.A.S.E strategy to suit local conditions. This is an abbreviation for Connected, Autonomous, Shared & Services, and Electric, which stand for the four trends that will reshape future mobility. This transformation is happening in our
industry worldwide and especially in China.