Mercedes-Benz reveals that demand for EVs is slowing and that it will be updating combustion-powered models in an attempt to compensate for shifting consumer buying habits and ongoing challenges in the segment.
Several automakers flocked to Las Vegas to show off their latest technology during CES 2024.
Demand for electric vehicles has recently begun to slow down with consumers not embracing them as quickly as some automakers anticipated.
Mercedes-Benz is one of the automakers that has noticed this and has released a new report confirming that it will enhance its efforts at updating its combustion models to compensate for these changing trends.
Mercedes-Benz Slashes EV Sales Target In Half
When we last heard from the German automaker, Mercedes reps had plans to make all of its vehicle sales come from BEVs by 2030 with the goal of gradually eliminating gasoline models from its lineup. However, slowing EV demand has sandbagged these plans and the company announced that it’s slashing this expectation in half with the revised figure saying that it expects 50% of sales to be all-electric by 2030.
Mercedes Chief Ola Källenius said previously Europe wouldn’t be ready for full EV adoption by 2030.
Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius appeared to already be noticing the shifting realities on the ground last year when he revealed that Europe would likely not be ready for full EV adoption by 2030.
Källenius cited several studies that revealed customers were not making the leap into EVs due to a wide variety of factors including high prices, the lack of a robust charging network, and the absence of appealing EV models.
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Combustion Models To Play Bigger Roles Moving Forward
With the EV side of the business feeling the pressure from waning demand and outside challenges, the company is now refocusing efforts to update its combustion lineup with Källenius confirming that Mercedes-Benz is still in a strong position to produce combustion-powered vehicles and that it will continue to update them for the foreseeable future.
Mercedes-Benz reported its sales increase 2% from the fourth quarter 2022 with 90,014 vehicles sold.
While the report doesn’t go into detail about how Mercedes intends to do this, we expect to see an expanded presence in both the hybrid and PHEV markets.
The company already has mild-hybrid technology in many of its models and it’s also expanding its PHEV roster too. Tightening emissions regulations in Europe and the United States will force the company to accelerate the push into both realms of the hybrid market.
This would allow the company to appeal to a wider range of consumers while also giving the EV market more time to overcome some of the speed bumps standing in the way of universal adoption by buyers.
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