Things are looking good for Mercedes-Benz — as the automaker reports a significant jump in EV sales last quarter. In fact, in Q2 of this year, Mercedes-EQ sales nearly doubled to 23,500 units (+90 per cent) and deliveries of xEV models (PHEVs and BEVs) reached 65,400 units (+2 per cent).
Speaking to their Q2 sales results, Mercedes-Benz Canada President and CEO, Eva Wiese, expressed pride in the automaker’s performance despite the supply chain challenges which have plagued the industry. “We were pleased to see a level of stability and growth in the latter part of the second quarter after continuing to experience the effects of ongoing external supply chain challenges,” said Wiese. “The second half of 2022 will be significant as we look to build solid momentum with the highly anticipated all-new C-Class sedan, the dynamic Mercedes-AMG SL 63, and a number of Mercedes-EQ vehicles arriving in our market.”
According to the results, battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales rose by 134 per cent to 45,400 units during the first half of 2022. This should come as no surprise, as volume models (including the EQE) left the production line during this period. During this time, deliveries of xEVs also reached 139,600 worldwide (+14 per cent).
“The electric ramp up is gaining traction: Sales of our fully electric vehicles increased by more than 90 per cent in Q2 and even 134 per cent in the first half of 2022,” shared Britta Seeger, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing and Sales. “It shows that we offer compelling electric vehicles that our customers desire.”
Mercedes-Benz has also signed an agreement with Tencent Cloud Computing Beijing, through its subsidiary Daimler Greater China Ltd.. This partnership will allow the automaker to leverage cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence technologies to speed up the simulation, testing and application of Mercedes-Benz’s autonomous driving technology. With this goal in mind, a joint laboratory for autonomous driving will reportedly be established in China.
“Mercedes-Benz is the first automobile enterprise in the world to meet the strict legal requirements of L3 automated driving system,” shared Dr Hans Georg Engel, Senior Executive Vice President of Mercedes-Benz China. “In China, we are intensively developing and testing the current and next generation automated driving systems. To succeed in this field, in-depth insight into local complex traffic and market demand is very important.”
