automobile
New Smart is coming from China next year
The new Smart will be made in China next year. Photo: Uli Deck / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
In the coming year, Daimler wants to bring the new Smart from Chinese production onto the market. China has now become the most important market for the Mercedes-Benz brand, and demand is enormous.
Daimler and its major shareholder Geely are sticking to bringing the smart car from Chinese production onto the market in the coming year.
“We are making very good progress,” said the Daimler board member responsible for China, Hubertus Troska, at an online event on Thursday. In September, a study of the new Smart was presented at the IAA in Munich – the tiny car became an SUV. The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Mercedes-Benz founded a joint venture for Smart. Daimler sold the Smart factory in Hambach in eastern France to the British off-road vehicle manufacturer Ineos around a year ago.
Troska made it clear that Daimler is also affected by the global shortage of electronic components such as semiconductors in China. China has long been the most important market for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars with a share of around 35 percent of total sales. “The demand is enormous,” reported Troska. China got out of the corona crisis faster than other regions of the world.
The group opened a new technology center in the Beijing region last month. Over 1000 engineers worked there, among other things, on the digitization of vehicles and driver assistance systems.