The China joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Geely around Smart announced at the end of March last year has now been formally established with all relevant final approvals from Chinese authorities. The first electric Smart cars made in China are to be launched on the market in 2022.
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Daimler has completed the acquisition of a stake in BAIC’s subsidiary Beijing Electric Vehicle (BJEV) as announced last year. The German carmaker owns now almost four percent of the Chinese specialist for EVs and PHEVs.
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“My resignation as CEO was in order to put the whole of my effort towards getting FF91 onto the market as soon as possible.”
Jia Yueting, founder of struggling LeEco has resigned as chair in order to focus on Faraday Future and its self-driving car in the States.
ft.com
“By 2025, [China] will [account for] a substantial share in global sales of Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles. Therefore, local production will be key to the success of our EVs and crucial to flexibly serving local demand for electric vehicles. With our planned localization of BEVs and batteries with Chinese cells, we are dedicated to strengthening the region as an innovation hub for the automotive industry.”
Daimler China Chef Hubertus Troska comments on the refreshed investments into the joint venture with BAIC that will see them construct a new battery facility (we reported).
just-auto.com
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“This is a challenge but also an opportunity because we will quickly gain large volumes and gain sufficient scale to make electro-mobility cost effective enough so that it will also be a success in Germany and the United States.”
Volkswagen brand chief Herbert Diess said VW will invest in locally developed EV technology as he is convinced, “China will become the leading market for electromobility.”
Diess’ colleague Hubertus Troska, Daimler’s board member responsible for China, tried to make an equally brave stance as well in Mercedes’ bid to keep a foot in the market by holding on to local partners.
autonews.com (both Diess & Troska)
“Maybe with hypercars, we will first have the step of going to hybrid version, different kind of hybrid versions, but then I think the final step for everybody is going 100 percent electric.”
Monika Mikac, COO of Rimac Automobili, has no doubts about the future of hypercars. For the Croatian it is the present already obviously as Rimac displays the fully electric Concept One in New York.
electrek.co
Which actually poses a serious problem in China as Hubertus Troska, head of Daimler’s Chinese operations very well knows. Generous government subsidies led buyers to opt for plug-ins but they often find themselves driving with gas as charging stations are scarce.
bloomberg.com
“We have been serving the Sacramento market with a variety of fuels for over 60 years and we are anxious to support the infrastructure necessary to prove that hydrogen has a place in the transportation fuel mix.”
Kent Ramos, president of Ramos Oil Company, is obviously open to various forms of fuels. His station in Sacramento has just become the sight of Linde LLC’s first hydrogen fuelling station in the U.S.
the-linde-group.com
Hubertus Troska, head of Daimler in China, is excited about the launch of the Denza electric car, designed for the Chinese market. Though he declined to comment on sales targets.
online.wsj.com
“We say for the next five or six years minimum, plug-in hybrids is the right answer.”
Peter Mertens, Volvo’s senior vice president of research and development say that the company will continue to focus on PHEV, because there is a larger market at time. But he does say that may change as battery prices drop.
drive.com.au
“We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’re the largest lithium-ion battery maker in Michigan, and we’re coming back.”
Jason Forcier, CEO of A123 Systems, is certain that his company will make it back to the top with its new line of smaller low-voltage cells for the “micro-hybrid.” That is also because the batteries’ weight has been reduced significantly.
hybridcars.com
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Hubertus Troska, Daimler board member responsible for China, on why the German company believes in EVs for China, where considerate progress has been made in the last twelve months.
blogs.wsj.com
“When costs drop below 200 dollars a kWh, battery-powered cars start to become competitive with conventional cars even without subsidies.”
This is the estimate of Jeff Desjardins, founder and CEO of Visual Capitalist, who delivers a graphic description of Tesla’s Gigafactory including information on the raw materials being used.
visualcapitalist.com
“We do it because nobody else cares! But to grow the market for electric cars, motorists must be able to travel long distances, they must have the freedom to go wherever they want. We could not wait until the end of endless discussions before embarking.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk on why infrastructure is necessary for EVs to become broadly accepted. He also invited Renault and Peugeot to apply Tesla charging technology.
stocks.org
“Tesla is great, but you’ve got plenty of well-established brands that mean luxury, like Porsche or Mercedes-Benz, and how long do you think we’re going to wait and let Tesla be out there? So, good job, Tesla, but will they be able to maintain that with the others of us out in the market? That remains to be seen.”
Steve Cannon, head of Mercedes-Benz USA, did not hold back when trying to belittle the Californian EV maker by further pointing out that Tesla had “no network” and only a few shops with not enough service structure.
forbes.com
This is the prediction of Hubertus Troska, CEO of Daimler in China. In particular, Troska referred to a strong political will to foster EV use in the country and his company’s plans to deliver.
kfz-betrieb.vogel.de (in German)
