Mercedes-Benz To Offer Electric Option For Every Car By 2022

Daimler's Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche on Monday said Mercedes-Benz will offer electric versions of all its models by 2022, converting its Smart city car brand to become fully electric. Speaking at the company's investor day in Sindelfingen, Germany, Daimler said it will offer at least 50 electrified versions of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in hybrid and fully electric car variants. Because electric cars have a lower margin than combustion-engine cars, Daimler has set itself a more ambitious savings target. The company's Fit for Leadership 4.0 plan targets savings of 4 billion euros ($4.8 billion), Daimler said.

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The company's Mercedes-Benz brand is preparing to launch the "EQ" electric car, which shares the underpinnings of the Mercedes-Benz GLC, a model that sells at a rate of around 1,000 cars a day. If the EQ proves popular, profits could take a hit initially, Daimler said at an investor say on Monday.

"In the beginning of the cycle we believe that we will have to face a significantly lower margin. For some vehicles half of the margin of the vehicles they replace," Frank Lindenberg, Vice President of Finance and Controlling at Mercedes-Benz Cars, said at the event in Sindelfingen, southwest Germany.

Daimler will produce the GLC and the EQ at the same plant, allowing it to adjust production of electric cars in line with demand. A rapid switch to electric cars may prevent it from meeting its return on sales target, Lindenberg said.

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"We are still aiming for a 10 percent return on sales, but have to be prepared for a kind of transition, with a corridor of 8 to 10 percent," he said.

As part of the cost savings plan, Daimler wants to save 1 billion euros from fixed costs, and another billion from research and development and capital expenditure. The remainder would come mainly from product costs.

Daimler said that by 2025, the purchasing cost of electric cars would likely reach parity with combustion equivalents, which could accelerate migration to battery powered vehicles.

Electric cars are currently more expensive than combustion-engine cars because of battery costs.