Message from “UncleSam” on WeChat: “I’m at the VW stand. In front of the Touareg.” At the front of the huge exhibition stand, Volkswagen has parked its combustion engines such as the Touareg, the models After all, they still have to deliver money in the next few years.
Electrical hopes are only further behind.
As a European you have an advantage at the auto show in Beijing: you are recognized, even if there are not that many people there on the first day of the trade fair. “Hey Christoph,” says the crowd in front of the Touareg. Sam Guo (40), who calls himself “Uncle Sam” on the Chinese short message service, shouts with a smile: “Welcome to Beijing. Do you want a coffee?”
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Worried about Mercedes: Long-time China manager Sam Guo.
Photo: manager magazine
This Thursday morning, Auto China 2024, now the largest car trade fair in the world, opened its doors. There are countless local attackers in eight halls, with far fewer international manufacturers trying to counter them. There are expected to be well over 100 world premieres this year. While the big trade fairs in Europe and the USA have gone out of fashion, the organizers in China are now really turning things up.
Anyone who pushes their way through the bright halls and corridors of the Beijing exhibition center with Sam Guo has to be prepared for interruptions. Guo is well connected here. He was born and raised in Beijing. And he had a distinguished career in the auto industry. For more than ten years he was one of the powerful people at Mercedes in China, was one of the bosses of Car2go and later headed the car manufacturer’s innovation unit. He left in the summer of 2020. Today Guo is an investor, focuses on commercial vehicles, for example, and is still part of the local scene. And he’s worried about his former employer.
Chaos at Starbucks
There is complete chaos at the Starbucks stand in the morning. Digital and verbal orders at the same time can overwhelm even the ultra-fast Chinese people behind the counter. Guo meets a Mercedes employee in the queue. They exchange information about a mutual colleague from before, who has now been promoted to level 3 at Mercedes in China, the man says. Then he has to move on, development manager Markus Schäfer (58) is waiting over there. “Mercedes in a nutshell,” groans Guo. The Germans would still remain in their old habitus: a lot of politics, titles about transformation.
At the Mercedes stand, an electric G-Class towers above everything. Bulky, almost like a tank, it dominates Hall E4. In the truest sense of the word: the Swabians have placed their electric off-road vehicle on a pedestal decorated with a huge “G”. CEO Ola Källenius (54) also came and climbed up for a chat with VDA President Hildegard Müller (54). The car is Mercedes’ Attempt to respond to the challenges in China
.
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G-Star: Presentation of the G-Class in Hall E4.
Photo: Tingshu Wang / REUTERS
Head of development Schäfer, like other top managers of German car manufacturers, is promising more “China speed” in Beijing these days. But he doesn’t get the applause that he seemed to be hoping for during his short breaks during his press conference on Thursday morning.
An electric G-Class as an answer? “I love Mercedes,” says Sam Guo. He somehow suffers with his old employer, even if he doesn’t want to return there. “Sometimes in life you have to let go of what you love.”
Star cult around the Xiaomi boss
Others in Beijing are cheering. At Xiaomi, for example. The smartphone company recently impressed the automotive world with a stylish electric sedan for less than 30,000 euros. Founder Lei Jun (54) is the star here. When he walks between the stands, he is immediately surrounded by a huge crowd of fans. Anyone and everyone wants a selfie. Anyone who stands in the way will be overwhelmed. Lei Jun seems to be enjoying it – and presents his new electric model to the crowd.
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This can be seen at the world’s largest auto show in Beijing, Beijing Auto Show 2024
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Photo:
Kyodo News / IMAGO
The trade fair is a highlight of the automotive industry, says Georg Mrusek from the Horvath consultancy. “The pride of the Chinese is palpable everywhere here.” Enthusiastic car guys and car girls are said to have paid up to 500 euros to be able to take part in the car show on this press day – before the official opening.
From minicars to “the Chinese Porsche” at the BYD subsidiary Yangwang to an imitation Cybertruck at Dongfeng – car fetishists can see pretty much everything here, from copycats to prototypes for flying cars to wild studies. The new market leader BYD is clearly represented. And of course the other Chinese electric stars also show off: Aion, Wuling, Changan, Geely, Nio, Neta and XPeng. After all, they also dominate the sales charts, where only Tesla and BMW appear as Western manufacturers in the top ten.
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No Tesla, no problem: Dongfeng is showing a kind of Chinese Cybertruck in Beijing.
Photo: manager magazine
The Germans seem pretty moderate in comparison. Many interested people also stop by Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW on Thursday, but there isn’t a lot of hustle and bustle there. They have set up a white dragon at the Porsche stand, where a lilac Macan and the new Taycan are being presented. Nice, but not exceptional. A shaman who hangs around at the new market leader BYD attracts significantly more attention.
Was that it? Decades of German dominance in the world’s largest car market wiped away in a few years?
Not so fast, says Sam Guo. Yes, China’s car manufacturers are agile. “But they also burn money at a crazy pace. That won’t go well with many.” Recently, the dreams of brands like “Weltmeister” or HiPhi have been dashed. “We will see more of this in the near future.” Many of the brands pushed too hard. Guo lacks traction with some of the newcomers. “Fake it till you make it” is also a widespread phenomenon here. Even for Xiaomi, he wouldn’t put his hand in the fire.
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The chances of survival for Mercedes and Co. are therefore not that bad, believes Guo. However, market shares and profits will continue to decline. “You should finally understand one thing: China no longer lets Mercedes or BMW decide. The customers here want to decide for themselves.” Anyone who is not prepared to learn from the people here will suffer. An electric G-Class as a major step forward? Rather not.
He has praise for Volkswagen, of all people, whose China boss Ralf Brandstätter (55) is currently struggling to explain the brand’s realignment and its product boss just described the market as a “battlefield.”
. Although VW cars are no longer cool, “the new strategy is courageous,” praises Guo, the former Mercedes man. The cooperation with XPeng could work – if VW is really willing to learn, he says. Conversely, XPeng also benefits. “A global sugar daddy is the best shield in the battle of attrition.”