Wird Mercedes-Benz auf die Spuren von Nokia treten?

Mercedes-Benz is sounding the horn for a counterattack in the global pure-electric vehicle market.

At the Munich Auto Show, which opened on September 8, the all-new Mercedes-Benz GLC EV made its global debut; at the Chengdu Auto Show, which opened 10 days ago, the all-new pure-electric Mercedes-Benz CLA made its first appearance. Additionally, an investor document from Mercedes-Benz shows that the company will launch at least 18 new models in 2026, with electric vehicles accounting for the majority.

However, this cannot quickly reverse the sluggish situation of Mercedes-Benz in the Chinese market.

Walking into a Mercedes-Benz 4S store, there is no bustling crowd and no continuous consultation sounds. The sales staff stands beside the exhibition cars, with an undisguised look of helplessness in their eyes.

The sales data adds more chill. According to the sales ranking data from Yiche, in August, Mercedes-Benz's cumulative retail sales volume was 37,000 vehicles, a year-on-year plunge of nearly 25%.

Picture/Sales volume of Mercedes-Benz cars in August 2025  Source/Screenshot from the Internet's New Energy Outlook

In sharp contrast, the Audi store in Beijing's Fangcao Di presents a completely different scene. Consumers gather around the E5 Sportback exhibition car, stopping to watch and constantly asking questions. Many people frankly say, "From this car, we can see Audi's sincerity in the electric era."

BMW, which was already leading in the field of electric vehicles, has officially entered a new era. The all-new pure-electric SUV model, the iX3, was also recently launched. In addition to the new operating system X, the local Chinese digital ecosystem, and high-frequency interactive experience, its battery cost is 40%-50% lower than that of existing models, making it more competitive in the Chinese market.

The "Three-Pointed Star" that once symbolized luxury and status seems to be falling into an unprecedented awkward situation and experiencing a huge gap.

1. Two-way Loss: Dealers Fleeing and Consumers Changing Hearts

In 2025, the popularity of Mercedes-Benz in the consumer market continued to decline.

In the first half of the year, Mercedes-Benz's cumulative retail sales volume in the Chinese market was 293,200 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 14%.

Picture/Domestic sales volume of Mercedes-Benz in H1 2025  Source/Screenshot from the Internet's New Energy Outlook

In July, this downward trend further worsened. The monthly retail sales volume was only 26,700 vehicles, a month-on-month plunge of over 40%, setting a dismal record of monthly sales falling below 27,000 vehicles for the first time in nearly five years.

Picture/Sales volume of Mercedes-Benz in July 2025  Source/Screenshot from the Internet's New Energy Outlook

It is worth noting that such sales data is based on significant price cuts. Currently, the lowest transaction price of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class has dropped below 125,600 yuan, nearly a 50% discount from the official guide price; for fuel-powered and pure-electric main models such as the C-Class, EQA, and EQB, the terminal discount ranges are all over 100,000 yuan.

However, the strategy of trading price for volume not only failed to reverse the declining sales trend but also pushed Mercedes-Benz into a vicious cycle of "the more the price is cut, the harder it is to sell; the harder it is to sell, the more the price is cut," and the brand premium is being rapidly diluted.

The change in consumers' perception of Mercedes-Benz further confirms the decline of its brand power.

Mr. Li from Chaoyang, Beijing, recently bought a NIO ET7. He frankly said that if he were to buy a car ten years ago, he would definitely choose Mercedes-Benz first. But now, in his opinion, Mercedes-Benz is becoming an ordinary luxury brand, especially in the field of electric vehicles, and is even inferior to some domestic new forces. "In terms of intelligence and user experience, domestic new energy vehicles are far ahead."

Picture/NIO ET7  Source/Screenshot from the Internet's New Energy Outlook

This attitude is more common among young consumers. A Yuan (pseudonym), a post-00s, directly excluded traditional luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz when buying a car. "The intelligent cockpit, assisted driving, and other functions of new force brands are more in line with our imagination of future cars. Mercedes-Benz can't provide such a sense of technology."

In contact with many consumers, it is not difficult to find that in today's market, most consumers pay more attention to the intelligence, technology, and new energy technology of cars, and Mercedes-Benz's current performance in these aspects obviously fails to meet their expectations.

Meanwhile, the foundation of Mercedes-Benz's traditional automobile distribution model is gradually collapsing.

According to incomplete statistics, in the first six months of this year, more than 80 Mercedes-Benz 4S stores in 23 cities have chosen to withdraw from the network, including some long-established stores.

In March, several Mercedes-Benz stores under the Shanghai Baolide Group, such as the Songjiang store, Hangzhou Xingbaohang, and Changxing Star, suddenly closed;

Picture/Hangzhou Xingbaohang sending information on the termination of Mercedes-Benz authorization to customers  Source/Screenshot from the Internet's New Energy Outlook

At the end of June, Mercedes-Benz stores such as Beijing Penglong Haiyijie, Beijing Yuntong Xingchi, Zhejiang Baolide, Dezhou Guanghui Star, Huzhou Star, Shaoxing Star, and Dongying Wuyue gradually stopped operating. Some dealers simply switched to the new energy camp. For example, the former Mercedes-Benz exhibition hall in Penglong Building on the East Third Ring Road in Beijing and the former Penglong Ruixing Mercedes-Benz 4S store on Laiguangying West Road in Chaoyang District, Beijing, have both been converted into "Hongmeng Zhixing" experience centers.

This large-scale wave of dealers withdrawing from the network is triggering a chain reaction, causing consumers' trust to drop to rock bottom. "Are we, the car owners, just being dismissed with a text message? We haven't even enjoyed the A and B maintenance rights promised when we bought the car. Isn't this fraud?"

"The 5-year warranty and 3A3B maintenance package I purchased haven't expired yet, but the 4S store is gone. When I called the official Mercedes-Benz customer service, the reply was that this package is only valid at the original store, and they completely ignored our subsequent rights."

2. Does Mercedes-Benz Suffer from the Same Problem as Nokia?

Mercedes-Benz's current dilemma inevitably reminds people of Nokia, the overlord in the feature phone era.

Nokia was not unaware of the wave of smartphones. As early as 2004, Nokia developed a full-touchscreen prototype internally, three years earlier than the iPhone. Similarly, Mercedes-Benz started its electrification layout as early as 2010. It not only provided battery packs for the Mercedes-Benz Smart but also launched its first gasoline-electric hybrid model, the S400 Hybrid, globally.

Picture/Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid  Source/Screenshot from the Internet's New Energy Outlook

However, foreseeing the future is one thing, and seizing it is another.

Nokia's downfall was largely due to its reliance on its past advantages in hardware manufacturing. It tried to develop smartphones with the logic of feature phones but ignored the importance of the intelligent ecosystem and user experience.

What's even more alarming is that once the brand perception is solidified, it's very difficult to reverse. Nokia launched the Android phone Nokia X series in 2014, but by then, consumers had already formed the perception that Nokia was backward, and ultimately, these products failed to save Nokia's mobile phone business.

Picture/Nokia-X series  Source/Screenshot from the Internet's New Energy Outlook

Now, Mercedes-Benz is standing at a similar crossroads.

Like Nokia, Mercedes-Benz is trying to develop electric vehicles with the thinking of traditional fuel-powered vehicles but ignoring the change in the competition logic of the automobile industry - in the era of electrification, the three-electric system, intelligent driving, and user experience have become the new core barriers, and Mercedes-Benz not only fails to take the lead in these key areas but has also clearly fallen behind the leading new forces.

Specifically, from January to July this year, among Mercedes-Benz's new energy models, only three models, the EQB, EQE, and EQA, had cumulative sales exceeding 1,000 vehicles, with 1,871, 1,713, and 1,127 vehicles respectively. Among them, the EQB and EQA are both based on fuel-powered vehicle platforms, and there are obvious deficiencies in space layout and intelligent experience.

Picture/Cumulative sales volume of Mercedes-Benz EQB, EQE, and EQA from January to July 2025  Source/Screenshot from 36Kr's New Energy Outlook

"Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles are more like fuel-powered vehicles with a new shell, always giving people the feeling of a ragtag army."

"Mercedes-Benz piles up a lot of hardware, but the intelligent experience is very poor. The smoothness and intelligence level of the in-vehicle system are far behind those of domestic new forces." Many consumers frankly said.

What's even more worrying is that Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles have been repeatedly exposed to safety issues such as battery overheating and vehicle fires in the past two years.

In August last year, in the underground parking lot of a high-class apartment in Incheon, South Korea, a Mercedes-Benz EQE electric vehicle suddenly caught fire, causing damage to 140 cars and sending 23 people to the hospital due to smoke inhalation; in May this year, a Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle caught fire and burned at the entrance of a 4S store in Zhengzhou, Henan. In June, a Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle caught fire on the road in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, and was burned until only the three-pointed star logo on the front of the car remained...

According to an announcement previously released by Mercedes-Benz, due to the risk of battery overheating, the company will recall 13,447 domestically produced EQC cars with production dates between November 30, 2018, and September 17, 2022, on September 27.

3. Time Is Running Out for Mercedes-Benz

Although Mercedes-Benz is in a difficult situation now, it is not without a chance to turn things around, but the time is very limited.

Currently, Audi's first model based on the PPE pure-electric platform, the E5 Sportback, has started pre-sales and will be officially launched on September 15. With its advanced technology, fashionable design, and affordable price, this car has attracted the attention of many consumers; BMW is also actively deploying its electrification transformation and officially launched the "New Generation" project in the second half of 2025.

Picture/Audi E5 Sportback  Source/Screenshot from the Internet's New Energy Outlook

Meanwhile, brands such as Li Auto, NIO, and Wenjie are continuously squeezing upwards and constantly eroding the market share of traditional luxury brands.

More importantly, the car-buying logic of consumers, especially the young generation, has completely changed. They have long jumped out of the traditional perception that "the car logo determines the value" and listed the intelligence level, OTA upgrade ability, and the integration degree of digital life as the core considerations, which are exactly the obvious weaknesses of Mercedes-Benz at present.

"The practical experiences such as the ability to discharge electricity externally during weekend camping, the ability to remotely control the air conditioning and charging through the mobile phone APP, and the after-sales service of picking up and delivering the car are much more useful than a luxury car logo."

"When