Daimler-Chef Ola Källenius feels the success of the electric car market leaderTesla spurred on. “Maybe it’s not bad at all when a newcomer stirs up the situation,” he said to manager magazin. The US competitor’s share price in particular shows “the fantasy that lies behind the new mobility. We have to grow, and that also applies to our engineers.” Tesla is currently worth six times as much as Daimler on the stock exchange.
Källenius plans to sell at least half of all Mercedes cars with electric drive in 2030. “But if the market turns faster, we will be ready,” said the Daimler boss in the interview. So far, the start of the electric age has been rather bumpy for the Stuttgart company. Daimler had not even sold 10,000 vehicles of the EQC electric SUV by the end of August. 50,000 were planned for the year as a whole. “Covid-19 also plays a role here, we are now gradually increasing the number of units,” said Källenius.
He announced a rapid expansion of the offer. There will be an electric version of the luxury Maybach variant, Källenius told manager magazin. And for the tuning brand AMG, “we will very likely bring a battery-electric sports car platform onto the market in a few years”.
In order to help e-mobility achieve a breakthrough faster, Källenius called for a higher CO2 tax. “CO2 must have a higher price (…) If such a tax were also valid and tradable globally and across all industries, the market could react very quickly.” In addition, the state must help set up the charging infrastructure. Car manufacturers and energy providers are already active. But electromobility is a joint task.