CDF Voice｜Ola Källenius，CEO of Mercedes-Benz：Continue to invest in China and Expand the scale of local research and development

The “CDF Voice” column aims to bring together business leaders and convey the voices of the forum delegates.

Since its launch in 2000, CDF have upheld its mandate of “Engaging with the world for common prosperity”.

At present, the economic recovery is still fragile, and the impact of the COVID-19 and geopolitical crisis is continuing. Although China’s economic recovery is improving, lackluster demand, slow recovery in labor market and global supply chain adjustments and other pressures are still present.

The world is experiencing unprecedented change, how do foreign enterprises in China view China's development? How can foreign enterprises grasp the opportunities and challenges in the Chinese market? What insights do they have about China's future economic recovery and social development?

As the 2023 annual meeting of the China Development Forum is about to be held, the "CDF Voice" column invites representatives of global enterprises to discuss the above topics.

The guest of CDF Voice today is Ola Källeniu, CEO of Mercedes-Benz

Hello everybody, I’m Ola Källenius. It’s a great honour and pleasure to once again be a part of the China Development Forum.

Over the past year, the world faced serious challenges. We witnessed – amongst other things –Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine; rising geopolitical tensions; the spread of Omicron; semiconductor shortages; constraints on the global supply chain and rising inflation in many countries. My hopes for 2023 are that things take a turn for the better!

Particularly, China’s re-opening since the end of last year is fuelling these hopes. Chinese leadership has taken a steady course towards economic recovery. I’m confident China will embark on a path of rapid recovery and development in 2023 with consumption and employment strongly improving.

As a close partner and friend, Mercedes-Benz is determined to contribute to your great country’s economic recovery by growing in China, with China.

A cornerstone of our success here: our ever-increasing localisation efforts. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of our cooperation with our local partners, we’re encouraged and committed to further deepening these ties.

That includes accelerating our joint efforts to develop a green supply chain and the green transformation of China’s automotive industry in line with China’s “dual- carbon” goals. At our joint venture plant in Beijing, BBAC, we celebrated our 4 millionth car rolling off the production line last August. Moreover, we have also accomplished significant improvements including self-made green energy, purchasing green power, and resource-saving measures.

Your beautiful country is not only our most important market and a crucial technology hub. Above all, China is also a trailblazer for technological innovations and future trends. That’s why we’ll continue to invest in expanding our local R&D activities. Since 2021, we’ve opened two state-of-the-art R&D centres of global scale – one in Shanghai and one in Beijing. These two facilities have not only improved our global network. More importantly, they’ve enabled us to rapidly develop the latest technological innovations tailored to the needs of the Chinese market and our esteemed customers.

Our longstanding and close partnership with Tsinghua University is also part of our endeavours to enlarge our R&D footprint. Last year, we set a new benchmark for Sino-German collaboration in academia and business with this partnership.

Beyond our business activities, we’ve continually expanded our corporate social responsibility efforts over the last 16 years. Together with our partners, we want to make tangible contributions to the common good in China. We do so – for example – by helping to protect the biodiversity in the Hainan tropical rainforest.

For the year ahead, Mercedes-Benz has big plans. We will continue working hand-in-hand with our Chinese partners to achieve robust progress in all the fields I just mentioned. We firmly believe that China will strengthen its position as an innovation hub for the global auto industry and maintain its strong growth trajectory. And we will contribute to that by launching 16 new products and by expanding our NEV portfolio to 17 models.

It is our mission to further accelerate our efforts in the field of e-mobility. Thanks to our Chinese customers, deliveries of our NEV lineup increased by more than 140 percent in 2022 over the previous year. We want to keep that momentum going – and growing. I’m confident that the cooperation between Mercedes-Benz and China will be further deepened and widened!

After three long years, I’m very much looking forward to coming to Beijing again to attend the renowned China Development Forum in person. I’m excited to have the opportunity to meet up with friends new and old, with our partners, our customers and our China team. Let’s work closely together and create a new era of cooperation in the Year of the Rabbit. Xie Xie!