Interview | Stazinski: Analysis of Mercedes-Benz Electric Drive Platform Development Logic

In late April, the entire auto market was very lively, and BBAs, the "leaders" in the traditional auto camp, were releasing new cars.

With such a dense release, on the evening of April 18, in the 2023 China Annual Car Jury Group, everyone began to discuss a topic, which is whether BMW is faster and better, or Mercedes-Benz is faster and better.

Regarding the topic of Mercedes-Benz and BMW, it feels like it has always existed in the era of traditional fuel vehicles, just like the battle between salty soy milk and sweet soy milk in the automotive industry.

At this stage of the debate between these two factions, I stand for Mercedes-Benz, because Mercedes-Benz still highlights the strength of its luxurious brother.

On the afternoon of April 13th, "Daily Auto Telegraph" had the opportunity to participate in a small-scale dialogue, directly with Christoph Stazin, Vice President of Mercedes-Benz Large Electric Vehicle Architecture and Electric Drive Development Christoph Starzynski communicated.

Because of the epidemic, this is an online exchange. Through the exchange meeting, we found that Mercedes-Benz is "betting" in many fields and taking a road of integration.

There are already electric drive platforms like EQ that have been transformed from traditional fuel vehicle platforms (this is similar to BMW).

In the future, this platform will develop into a new MMA platform in 2024. The difference between the two is that the former is fuel-first, and the latter is upgraded to "electricity-first", but it is still a hybrid type that will take into account fuel vehicles.

In terms of large vehicles, the current pure electric platform EVA will continue to evolve into three platforms of MB.EA, AMG.EA and VAN.EA in 2025, which are completely independent of the pure electric platform of fuel vehicles.

On the whole, Mercedes-Benz chooses a hybrid platform for C-class and below models, and chooses a pure electric platform for E-class and above models.

Behind this logic, the author speculates that it is the result of comprehensive consideration of user experience + economies of scale. For relatively low-end models, scale and cost are given priority; while for models that reflect brand value and have a high premium, user experience is given priority.

Behind this logic is actually the embodiment of Mercedes-Benz's R&D capabilities and economic strength, and the R&D of 4 or 5 platforms is carried out at the same time, which itself explains the problem;

At the same time, in high-end products, Mercedes-Benz does not believe that "electricity" can smooth out all the differences in experience, and it still needs to solve the problem from the perspective of the most fundamental platform differentiation. This is Mercedes-Benz's attitude towards the word "luxury".