BEIJING (Reuters): The German company Mercedes-Benz is strengthening its presence in China. To capture the local booming market, the manufacturer is opening a major engineering and technology center, Tech Center China in Beijing, reports Reuters .
The new center, which will employ 1,000 engineers, is three times larger than the center built in 2014. Tech Center China will allow the production of vehicles entirely in China, rather than sending components to Germany for testing.
In 2020, despite the coronavirus pandemic, sales of Mercedes-Benz in China rose 12 percent to a record 774,000 cars, with 80 percent of them produced domestically. At the same time, 286 thousand cars were sold in Germany, and 275 thousand in the USA. At the end of 2021, the Asian market as a whole will account for more than half of all global brand sales.
The largest auto market is expected to continue to grow rapidly with sales of 35 million vehicles by 2035. In comparison, there are currently 25 million vehicles sold in China.
However, in the promising Chinese market, Mercedes-Benz, like other foreign automakers, met strong competitors in the face of local firms – Xpeng, Li Auto and Nio. They produce high-tech electric vehicles with stylish designs that better meet the needs of Chinese consumers.
In this regard, the German company has focused on technology and design. To make the country a “second home” for the brand, Mercedes-Benz has invested 1.1 billion yuan (over 12.2 billion rubles) to modernize its design studio, moving it from Beijing to Shanghai , the capital of automotive design in the PRC. The company stressed that people who are well acquainted with the needs and tastes of this market will produce cars in China.
