When Ola Källenius (50) praises the first electric Mercedes EQC, as he must do as a Daimler boss, it sounds like bitter irony to many of his colleagues. Källenius recently spoke of the EQC as hot goods that “customers would have to wait nine to twelve months for”.
That sounds good, but, as the Daimler man insinuated, is not due to the huge demand. Customers wait because the cars don’t get ready. Daimler lacks the batteries.
Källenius has internally declared the electronic emergency. Production chief Jörg Burzer (50) has to report daily: Does supplier LG Chem get the promised quantities? Is the Daimler battery plant in Kamenz finally producing usable battery modules for the EQC and the – also rare – plug-in hybrids of the group? Are the battery cooling systems working now, does the reject rate decrease?
Daimler has invested around 700 million euros in battery production in Kamenz; the cells alone should cost a good 10,000 euros per car. The months-long crisis mode is expensive for the already not flourishing group.
Daimler wanted to sell around 25,000 EQC in 2019. Around 7,000 are said to have been built at the end; the group does not give the exact number. Källenius had to cut the plan for 2020 from originally 50,000 to 60,000 to a good 30,000. “EQC? There is almost nothing there,” comments a frustrated top man.