Currently, just every tenth new car delivered by the car brand is fully electric.
(Photo: imago images/Arnulf Hettrich)
In TV, cinema and social media, Mercedes presents itself as a green pioneer. The three points of the star logo, which under company founder Gottlieb Daimler once stood for mobility on land, on water and in the air, are now intended to symbolize responsible handling of the elements. Conservation of resources, recycling and CO2 neutrality – that’s what the Mercedes star should stand for.
Unfortunately, there is a big gap between reality and marketing prose. In the course of its annual general meeting, the car manufacturer has just received its milestone in the electric ramp-up.
According to this, Mercedes will not be able to increase the sales share of purely electric cars and plug-in hybrids to 50 percent until 2026 at the earliest, which is a year later than planned.
Currently, just every tenth new car delivered is fully electric. The electrical share of sales to end customers last year was only 5.8 percent.
Ironically, the Bavarian rival BMW, which is vehemently committed to technology-neutral mobility and thus also to the continued existence of the combustion engine, outclasses Mercedes when it comes to electric sales. The lead in 2022 was around 54,000 vehicles.
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As a result, the values for pollutant emissions at BMW are also better. Their fleet of new cars emitted only 105 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer last year in the EU. The Mercedes fleet was ten grams higher.
In China and the USA, both manufacturers recently failed to meet the legal consumption requirements and had to buy pollution rights to avoid penalties. While BMW wants to get by without external credits, at least from now on, Mercedes is only aiming for this in the “medium term”.
BMW is carrying out the powertrain turnaround honestly and consistently. The “Electric only” strategy from Mercedes, on the other hand, does not come without restrictive footnotes. It would be better if the group announced less and delivered more.
More: Mercedes collects its electric intermediate goal.