On September 16, the 2022 World Intelligent Connected Auto Conference, co sponsored by the Beijing Municipal People's Government, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Transport and the China Association for Science and Technology, opened at the China International Exhibition Center (Shunyi Hall) in Beijing.

The theme of this conference is "New Ecology of Intelligent Acceleration Network Connection", including one opening ceremony and main forum, seven thematic summits, six special sessions, two closed sessions and one field research activity.

On September 18, at the Sino German International Forum on Intelligent Connected Vehicles, Leng Yan, the executive vice president of Daimler Greater China, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Gather Chinese inspiration, innovate for China, and accelerate the layout of intelligent connected vehicles in China".

Source: 2022 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference

The following are the live speech transcripts:

Distinguished leaders and guests, good morning!

Today, Professor An Erhan, who is in charge of research and development for Greater China, shared his inspiration from China and helped China innovate. He himself could not come to the scene because of the epidemic prevention and control.

Sustainable development is the guiding principle of Benz's strategy. Our goal is to build the most desirable passenger car in the world. This mainly includes six aspects. One is to focus on luxury positioning, the other is to focus on profit growth, the third is to promote the growth of sub brands, the fourth is to increase recurring revenue, the fifth is to accelerate the development of automotive software, and the sixth is to reduce costs and improve the industrial layout. Sustainable development can not be separated from technological innovation and progress. Mercedes Benz keeps investing 7 billion euros in R&D every year to promote the sustainable development of the company through continuous technological innovation, including the company's profitability and pressure resistance.

Last year, Mercedes Benz put forward a comprehensive electric strategy. The former electric priority was changed to comprehensive electric. Specifically, before 2030, when market conditions permit, the full realization of electrification will be achieved. At present, the power system of an electric vehicle is thousands of euros more expensive than that of a fuel vehicle of the same level, equivalent to tens of thousands of yuan. This is mainly due to the high cost of batteries.

Therefore, we need to make greater efforts in this regard to narrow this gap. For example, reduce the use of cobalt and other precious metals, and increase the energy density of the battery. For Mercedes Benz this year, our strategic focus is very obvious. It is six strategic pillars, including the introduction of more electric vehicles in China this year, covering all series of electric vehicles, improving the business of luxury vehicles, including high-end electric vehicles, and accelerating the development of automotive software. Our goal is to become the leader of China's automotive software.

Another special case is to ease the tension in the supply chain, focus on cost-effectiveness, maintain profitability, and help our industry transform.

In 2021 and the first half of 2022, we have seen remarkable achievements in Mercedes Benz's strategy, with both high-end vehicle sales and pure electric vehicle sales rising. From a global perspective, China is the largest and most important market for Mercedes Benz passenger cars. This is our analysis of the distribution of global sales data in the first half of 2022.

Mercedes Benz has been in China for more than 21 years. At present, the largest production base in the world is Beijing Benz. We established a Beijing Benz joint venture company specializing in the production of passenger vehicles in Beijing 17 years ago, and a joint venture company for the production of new commercial vehicles in Fujian 15 years ago, called Fujian Benz. In addition to the two major production bases in China, we are still expanding production to meet the needs of the Chinese market and consumers. The Benz Group and our partners will invest nearly 12 billion yuan in 2018 to build a new factory in Shunyi, Beijing. In June this year, the new pure electric Mercedes Benz model EQE was launched in Shunyi factory, and it also became the 4 million locally produced vehicles of Mercedes Benz.

By 2025, the new ecological luxury models based on the next generation modular architecture platform MMA and the core luxury models based on MB Benz EA pure electric platform will also be produced in China. In order to adapt to the transformation of the Chinese market, we have actively implemented the comprehensive electric strategy. So far, we have launched six pure electric models, including the new pure electric flagship EQS, EQA and EQB for young customers, and the first pure electric MPV model EQV. In 2024, we will release the models built on the new pure electric platform for the first time, and all our newly released model platforms will be pure electric platforms.

From 2025, every model provided by our new customers will have a pure electric version. Today, we are holding the world intelligent network conference. I particularly mention that Mercedes Benz is the first automobile company in the world to meet the strict regulatory requirements of unr157 for L3 auto drive system. Last year, Mercedes Benz obtained the official certification in Germany that it can use the L3 automatic driving function on actual roads. At present, we are communicating and cooperating with the domestic competent departments to bring this innovative technology to Chinese consumers as soon as possible.

In addition to the expansion of local production just mentioned, Mercedes Benz has also increased its localization R&D layout, and the proportion of local development and localization solutions has also increased significantly, especially in the intelligent driving and vehicle interconnection parts. In recent years, under the wave of electrification and intelligence, Mercedes Benz has also continuously deepened its cooperation with Chinese technology enterprises, start-ups, universities and other entities to promote the localization process. For example, we have integrated and introduced local navigation modules and Chinese navigation solutions. Local applications are also heavily embedded.

In terms of software system, Mercedes Benz is committed to building a local application ecosystem. Mercedes Benz continues to increase investment in local R&D and strengthen local R&D strength. We have invested 1 billion yuan in Yizhuang to establish a new global R&D technology center. It was officially put into use in October last year, equipped with seven advanced laboratories, including a special electric drive laboratory and charging laboratory, to accelerate the localization of new models, especially new energy models. In July this year, Mercedes Benz set up the second R&D center in China in Shanghai.

Shanghai R&D Center is mainly engaged in R&D business including automatic driving, intelligent interconnection, software and hardware solutions and big data processing. Through the top software and hardware integration testing and verification technology, Shanghai R&D Center will accelerate the automatic driving and software development process of Mercedes Benz in China.

Just now, we also mentioned the expansion of sub brands, not only focusing on the development of Mercedes Benz brand in the Chinese market, but also our Smart brand has adopted the same development strategy. We will work with our partner Geely to bring the well-known Smart brand to a new market segment, namely, urban compact high-end electric vehicles. It represents a kind of production quality and trend. Smart Net No. 1 has been pre sold on April 25 this year and delivered to customers in September. This car is produced and sold in China, and we plan to export it to the European market.

Mercedes Benz is actively promoting the sustainable development strategy. It is planned to achieve carbon neutrality of the new product lineup by 2039 at the latest. Promoting the development and transformation of the new energy vehicle industry is the core to achieve this goal. We know that luxury and sustainable development are inseparable. To promote the implementation of the 2039 vision in China, Mercedes Benz starts from the value chain, from the supply chain to manufacturing, from use to recycling. We are committed to achieving sustainable development in all aspects.

Because this year is a special year and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany. In the past half century, China and Germany have developed into the most important trade and cooperative partners of each other. The automobile industry has always been the most important driving force in the bilateral cooperation between China and Germany, and has also contributed to the rapid development of China, the automobile industry and the economy.

We very much appreciate and welcome the Chinese government's full liberalization of restrictions on foreign investment in the auto manufacturing industry from this year, which sends a very positive signal to the market. We look forward to the implementation of this policy and further promote the development of China's auto industry and auto market. As a multinational company, we are entering the third decade of development in China. We look forward to further expanding the cooperation with local partners, promoting the long-term development of Mercedes Benz's business in China, and contributing to the transformation of China's automobile industry.

Finally, we have a few policy suggestions. Let's talk about them briefly here. First, we hope to continue to implement Geely's policy to promote the growth of new energy vehicles and intelligent connected vehicles; Second, we hope to speed up the improvement of the infrastructure construction of ICV; The third is to accelerate the formulation of laws and regulations related to ICV, and incorporate international companies to participate in the formulation and establish the standards agreed by both parties.

We believe that the World Intelligent Networking Conference will continue to serve as an important platform to serve as a useful bridge between Chinese policy makers, domestic and foreign enterprises and the academic community, and promote exchanges and development among various parties, including the Chinese and German automotive industries. Thank you.