Mercedez-Benz CEO: 'China is a home away from home'

English Español Français العربية Русский

RSS

Radio TV

LANGUAGE
English Español Français العربية Русский Documentary CCTV+

Radio TV

Download

Translating...

Content is automatically generated by Microsoft Azure Translator Text API. CGTN is not responsible for any of the translations.

Error loading player: No playable sources found

03:40

China is a "home away from home," Mercedes-Benz's CEO has told CGTN.

Sten Ola Kallenius,the chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group, and CEO of Mercedes-Benz, spoke to CGTN Europe on the sidelines of the Paris Motor show.

He outlined some of the challenges the company has had to face in the last two to three years, especially during the pandemic and how they have had "an unusually high order backlog because of good demand."

Huawei 'disappointed' as UK steps up ban

China-UK Bridge Builders: James Trapp

He explained how "the supply constraints, especially semiconductors, and now the energy challenge that we have primarily in Europe as a consequence of the war in Ukraine" have had an impact on production.

"So we have, in a very steadfast way, implemented our strategy geared towards EVs (electric vehicles), towards digitization, have robust financial performance," he added.

Kallenius acknowledged that the auto industry is energy intensive and given the conflict in Ukraine, the Mercedes supply chains have had to be safeguarded by cutting the company's reliance on natural gas.

"We have now taken measures that we can reduce our demand for natural gas as an energy source by at least 50 percent for Mercedes while keeping operations fully operational. So the mid to long term strategy is decarbonization," he said.

When asked about China and the significance of that market for the company's growth and future plans, he said: "China is a home away from home."

"So we're increasing our footprint in China. In China for China, but also in China for the world."