After Volkswagen and Audi announced that they would invest tens of billions of euros to promote the transformation, the board of supervisors of Daimler AG recently approved an investment plan for electrification and digital transformation.

From 20021to 2025, Daimler will invest more than 70 billion euros in research and development, real estate, factories and equipment to accelerate electrification and digital transformation. Most of the investment will be used for Mercedes-Benz passenger car business, and the other part will be used to support Daimler's plan to accelerate zero-emission transportation.

The company's board of supervisors expressed "full support" for the relevant strategic line and business planning. In addition, the brand-new strategy of Mercedes-Benz brand was released in June 5438+10, and Daimler almost reached an agreement on the transformation plan.

Some insiders believe that Daimler's choice is in line with expectations, because it does not have many choices in the face of strict emission regulations, high research and development expenses, heavy performance pressure and rising competitors.

"Internal troubles and foreign invasion"

Investing 70 billion euros in one fell swoop is a key decision made by Daimler under the "internal and external troubles".

In 20 19, Daimler's profit level and sales return rate dropped sharply due to the high fines and litigation costs brought by the "emission gate". At the beginning of 2020, the epidemic spread, and automobile production and sales once stagnated, which made the company's financial performance "worse". At the same time, under the pressure of electrification and digital transformation, the German automaker still needs to maintain high R&D expenditure. Generally speaking, Daimler's operating conditions have been severely tested. Data show that in the first three quarters of this year, Daimler's net profit was 420 million euros, down 85% year-on-year, and its operating income was 65.438+00.768 billion euros, down 654.38+04% year-on-year.

20 19, 1 1 month, Daimler announced a restructuring plan, and planned to abolish more than10,000 jobs worldwide by 2022, thus saving/kloc-0,000,000 euros in labor costs for transformation. In July 2020, some media reported that Daimler's cost-cutting plan may be further expanded, with more than 30,000 people laid off worldwide and some factories closed to reduce 22% of the fixed cost. Kang Song Lin, chairman of Daimler's board of directors, also made it clear that the company decided to further reduce costs and prepare for electrification and digital transformation.

However, the radical plan of layoffs and restructuring has caused the antagonistic relationship between the management and the trade union within the company, and the factory closure negotiations and labor-management agreements have once come to a standstill.

Daimler is also facing fierce competition from emerging electric vehicle companies and is still in a catching-up position. Tesla continues to maintain its technical and market advantages in the field of smart electric vehicles. EV？ Sales data show that by the end of 2020 10, Tesla * * * sold 352,800 electric vehicles, while Mercedes-Benz only sold 89,600. In China market, Li ONE and Weilai ES6 occupy a leading position in the new energy SUV market.

In addition, the strict carbon emission regulations of the European Union also prompted Daimler to transform into electrification to avoid high fines.

Zhang Xiang, an analyst in the automotive industry, believes that Daimler and Mercedes-Benz are relatively conservative and backward in digital transformation, and the software ecology of intelligent networking is not rich enough, whether compared with Tesla, new car-making forces or local car companies in China. Nowadays, young users are very concerned about the intelligence and personalization of human-vehicle interaction. If Daimler can't seize this transformation opportunity, both the brand and the market will face the risk of decline.

"The elephant turns around"

The finalization of the huge investment plan of 70 billion euros seems to mean that all parties within Daimler have reached an agreement and the company's transformation is expected to be on the right track.

Mercedes-Benz passenger car business will be the focus of the transformation of the whole group. On June 5438+ 10, 2020, the department released a brand-new strategy, aiming at strengthening the position of Mercedes-Benz luxury brand, upgrading the product lineup and optimizing the product matrix, and accelerating the development of the brand in the fields of electric drive and automotive software.

On the technical route, Daimler and Mercedes-Benz put forward the development strategy of "electric first" and will release four brand-new pure electric products based on the EVA platform of large-scale pure electric vehicles to be released soon. In 2025, they will also launch an exclusive platform for MMA electrification designed for compact and medium-sized cars.

Daimler also has a clear plan for the allocation of funds. Daimler chose to develop its key core businesses, including automotive operating systems, pure electric platforms and motors. In other major but non-core technical fields, such as hybrid power system, fuel cell system, and * * * travel, Daimler tends to share the cost through cooperation, which is conducive to rational allocation of limited funds and ensuring financial stability.

While expanding investment, the Mercedes-Benz brand needs to continue to cut expenses. By 2025, the fixed cost will be reduced by more than 20% compared with 20 19. Capital and R&D expenditure decreased by more than 20% compared with 20 19, and structural profitability improved.

As the company's largest passenger car market and profit source, China is placed in a vital position by Daimler. Kang repeatedly emphasized "unswervingly expanding investment in China market". Recently, Beiqi Foton and Daimler Truck reached an agreement to promote the localization of heavy truck models. In terms of electrification, following the introduction of Mercedes-Benz EQC pure electric SUV on 20 19, the models developed based on EVA pure electric platform will also be listed in China on 202 1 to realize localized production.

According to Kang Songlin, Daimler will downsize in the next five years and become an intelligent electric vehicle company that mainly relies on software services for profit.

Analysts believe that the transformation signal released by Daimler is more clear and unified than that of audi ag, which has experienced huge but repeated setbacks. On the one hand, the board of supervisors expressed support for the company's strategic line, which will help the management headed by Kang to restructure the company smoothly; In addition, the Daimler trade union and the management agreed to set up a transformation fund, which also eased the antagonistic relationship between the two sides to some extent.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.