Mercedes admits it will fall short of its previously set forecast of PHEVs and EVs making up 50 percent of sales by 2025.
At a press conference to announce its 2023 results, the German luxury brand said it now forecasts that hybrid and electric vehicles will account for 50 percent of total sales by 2030. This is a five year delay from the original plan.. In July 2021, the company estimated that PHEVs and full electric vehicles will account for half the volume by 2025.
Some of you who have been following Mercedes will remember the Ambition 2039 strategy presented a few years ago. One day, in a lengthy document, there was a sentence that attracted the attention of many journalists: “By the end of this decade, Mercedes-Benz Cars aims to become fully electric – where market conditions allow it.”. The statement was somewhat vague, but clear enough to highlight the brand's EV goals.
In a new document prepared for investors, Mercedes estimates that hybrids and electric vehicles will account for up to 50 percent in the second half of the decade, but also only where market conditions allow. The company further notes that it “will be able to meet diverse customer needs well into the 2030s.”. That's a smart way of saying that it will continue to produce cars with internal combustion engines for the next decade.
Meanwhile, CEO Ola Källenius admits that conventionally powered vehicles remain the backbone of the company's cash flow. He told Bloomberg Television that cost parity between MVs and EVs is “many years away.”. A presentation made to investors showed that production costs for electric vehicles will not fall to ICE levels this decade.. This is despite the fact that petrol cars will become more expensive to produce once the new Euro 7 standard comes into force in a couple of years.
In 2023, total Mercedes PHEV and EV deliveries reached 401,943 units, up 20.5 percent from the previous year. PHEVs fell 12.5 percent to 161,275 units, while electric vehicles rose 61.3 percent to 240,668 units. The share of PHEVs and EVs in the total was 19.7 percent (from 16.3 percent in 2022). This year's goal is for PHEVs and EVs to make up 19 to 21 percent of the total.