Mercedes-Benz intends to make the brand future-proof by going through the current portfolio with the red pen. The future of several, especially more expensive models and large engines is therefore very uncertain.
There are two things that put the figures at Mercedes down: the commitment to electric driving and the aftermath of the diesel scandal. Partly as a result of this, parent company Daimler saw a sharp fall in profits in 2019. In the coming years, much more needs to be invested in EVs and so Mercedes must ensure that the company continues to make a financial return. Markus Schäfer, head of R&D for the brand, says, according to the British Autocar, that it wants to save costs by removing models, platforms and engines from the range.
Schäfer does not yet make concrete what is at the exit, but he does mention that a number of models are on their own platform. These may be the most important candidates to take the field due to the high development costs. Schäfer mentions the S-class, the G-class, the SL-class and the Mercedes-AMG GT as examples. According to Schäfer, the intention is to work towards one base in the long run. “In the future we have the same basis for different cars,” said the German. A modular platform for almost the entire range. A car like the S-class can possibly come with a long variant, but for cars like the G-class and the AMG GT it becomes more exciting.
In addition to certain platforms, various engines are also nominated for disappearance, according to Schäfer. The V8s and V12s are the perfect candidates. Schäfer indicates that they will not suddenly disappear ‘while the demand is still large enough’, but that Mercedes will reconsider which power sources it wants to adjust for a longer future. According to him, that mainly depends on the upcoming Euro 7 standards. The aforementioned models are also precisely the cars in which the larger engines can be found, so that makes their future doubly uncertain. We shall see.