Snatches pole, but never rests on laurels, vows Mercedes-Benz

In the first seven months of this year, Mercedes-Benz offered to its customers leading-in-segment more than 354,000 units of cars. The top management ascribes it to great products, improved services and dealers' collaboration. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The management at German premium automaker Mercedes-Benz have put the probability of winning their premium segment crown in China for the year 2017 down to not only having a mighty product portfolio, but also improved customer services and support from dealers, indicating a posture of being proactive rather than complacency.

"That's a consequence of not only great cars, but what we've been doing in terms of customer experience and the value of the brand that was presented to the customers as they expect from Mercedes-Benz services," said Nicholas Speeks, president& CEO, Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co (BMBS).

"And also, with the very strong support and loyalty we've been able to enjoy with our dealer partners," he told China Daily during the Chengdu Motor Show on Friday.

In the first seven months this year, the premium car title winner delivered to customers in China more than 354,000 cars, an impressive increase of 34 percent year-on-year, which almost matches their sales in 2015.

Ranking or volumes is usually a result of different influences, but the what the company cares more about is the process of ensuring that they do the right things and continue to do so.

In other words, the guarantee of customer value always comes ahead of numbers or growing speed that can never be simply a target they are in pursuit of.

Nicholas Speeks, president & CEO, Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"We know well that it is not possible to maintain high growth rate that we have right now in the future, nor is it necessary. We hope to conclude this year with double digit growth, and continue our solid development in 2018," Speeks said.

"We are very conscious that we cannot rest on our laurels, nor do we intend to," he added.

Mercedes-Benz has gone through a period of hard time in China years ago, until the transition in the last five years brought them to where they are now, and that's been helped by a number of factors.

One of the factors attributes to its great products brought to China in the past years, especially with more and more features tailored to the local market.

This year, they plan to continue to land 15 new and facelifted models to their biggest market worldwide.

"We have had the GLA facelift which was very successful, we have the S-Class coming up, and we have the new AMG range," Speeks said.

"And we now refresh the car with a facelift, with some modifications to the engine technology, with the look and feel of the car, in order to bring it a little bit up to date."

For instance, the new flagship S-Class he mentioned revamps a classic favorite released in 2013, which will hit the market in September.

Furthermore, concerted efforts have been made by the Stuttgart-based company and its sub-brands to propagate and enhance customer engagement and satisfaction.

"Customers are our treasure and we need to let them feel it and we must value our customers with the experience they deserve," he said.

"If we don't, then that's a very short term behavior and it will be very damaging to us in the long-term." In meeting customers' increasing needs for online purchasing, they launched their own E-Commerce platform in December. It is now offering 19 models in 91 variants, covering 276 dealers across the country.

Besides the online upgrading, they have brought an even better experience offline as well, according to Speeks.

Taking of digital showrooms, the company will introduce more than 200 dealership equipped with the digital means of presenting vehicles be the end of this year and all dealerships will be kitted out with that by the third quarter of next year.

"We will then be able to show consistently, throughout the network, the cars on a digital platform," he said.

Furthermore, they initiated the ground-breaking joint AMG/Maybach center last year in Hangzhou, to great customer feedback, and two more stand-alone AMG centers in Beijing and Shanghai are set to be launched soon.

"Once you have reached a certain level, what's next? And the challenge is identifying where we still need to do things," Speeks said, adding there are challenges that they need to address and they are addressing. They formed 5 percent of their working force into an agile with the social changes and customer demands to tailor new experiences for customers.

Not only did Mercedes-Benz offer new products, upgrade services, they also maintained a win-win relationship with dealer partners in previous years as well.

Since 2016, they have remained No 1 in dealer satisfaction in the premium segment for two consecutive years. Currently, they have more than 500 dealer outlets in China. "These dealers represent to a very large extent Mercedes-Benz very well," Speeks said.

"We are constantly working with them to improve the quality of the service and the experience our customers have in those dealerships in training, in personnel qualifications and in the way we organize ourselves and direct our people in the dealerships, so that the customer experience is the best we can make it."

When being approached by another particular challenge－NEV, Speeks said: "We are also working there to bring electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids with sufficient range to the Chinese market."

In meeting the commitment of introducing 10 NEVs globally by 2022, the Daimler group has been already working together with BAIC to jointly invest total 5 billion yuan in battery assembly and preparing for NEVs production.

"We don't know quite yet when exactly and how it will all work, but we are equipping ourselves," Speeks said.

"China provides us with a hopeful field, not only by virtue of what we are able to achieve today, but what it promises. Not only in terms of market potential, but also in people potential for the company in the future."