40 models is not enough! Mercedes will keep filling new niches
Mercedes’ CEO says his team will continue to look for gaps in the market: “If there’s a need, we’ll go for it”
Premium brand Mercedes won’t take the transition to electromobility as an opportunity to consolidate its product range. CEO Ola Källenius insists he and his team are constantly assessing market requirements – including bodystyles that may not yet exist.
Mercedes is no stranger to automotive niches, with an extensive line-up spanning everything from sports cars to SUVs – plus (almost) everything in between. Källenius acknowledged that his company covered more segments than most, but wouldn’t rule out further expansion: “We run about 40 body variants,” he told us. “Could there be more niches still? I’m not going to exclude that.”
Källenius wouldn’t elaborate on what areas of the new-car market the firm was considering, but insisted: “If we believe there is a market need, we will go for it. [At Mercedes] we eat, sleep and drink cars”.
Yet he admitted that the days of engineering a single bodystyle simply to fill a spot in the market that others hadn’t explored, are over. “We also run a business”, the CEO told us. “There needs to be a business case”.
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While we’ll need to wait a little longer to see how this ambition manifests itself, it makes sense for Mercedes to build on a tried and tested formula of offering variations on a theme – coupe versions of popular SUVs, for example, as well as estate cars based on strong-selling saloons.
Until now, particularly in the EV segment, the firm has stuck to conventionally well subscribed body shapes; as the market matures and buyers look for greater choice, Mercedes will be ready to take advantage – rolling out different ‘top hats’ based either on the smaller MMA, or larger MB.EA platforms.
But as we’ve seen on the latest CLA, the maker isn’t putting all its eggs in one basket; MMA is a multi-fuel platform, allowing for both electric and hybrid powertrains. This will mean Mercedes can satisfy demand for internal-combustion-engined cars until the end of the decade and possibly beyond.
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