Mercedes-Benz's new vehicle platform makes its first appearance in China, to use Geely's architecture | Exclusive from 36Kr

At the end of January this year, Mercedes-Benz management began to appear at Geely's Hangzhou Bay R & D Center. 36Kr learned from multiple industry insiders that the two automotive giants are discussing a cooperation at the vehicle-level electronic and electrical system.

The electronic and electrical architecture, also known as the EE architecture, is the foundation for the intelligent, digital, and connected development of vehicles. It is also the core that supports assisted driving and intelligent cockpits. In other words, it is the "soul" of vehicles in the era of intelligent cars, as car manufacturers would put it.

At the beginning of February, Geely's management, accompanied by translators, went to Jinqiao, Shanghai, to further finalize the cooperation direction with Mercedes-Benz.

Currently, the two parties have reached a preliminary consensus. Mercedes-Benz will develop a new electric vehicle platform based on Geely's GEEA electronic and electrical architecture. At present, Mercedes-Benz is conducting POC verification (concept verification before the project starts) based on the GEEA 4.0 version.

Geely's GEEA 4.0 architecture is an electronic and electrical architecture that Geely Group is developing and is applicable to both gasoline and electric vehicles. In 2024, the GEEA 3.0 architecture was first used in the Galaxy E5 model, and this architecture has supported Geely to achieve a sales volume of one million units.

Geely is one of the major institutional shareholders of Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz. The two parties have had extensive business exchanges in areas such as engines, hybrid systems, and intelligent driving.

However, this is almost the first time for a vehicle-level cooperation. In fact, in the industry, only a few automakers, such as Volkswagen and XPeng, and Stellantis and Leapmotor, can carry out in-depth vehicle-level cooperation through strong capital binding.

Mercedes-Benz has a more ambitious plan in mind.

36Kr learned from multiple insiders who have business dealings with Mercedes-Benz that the company has launched a new platform codenamed "Phoenix" to support entry-level electric vehicles globally. It is this new platform that Mercedes-Benz initially plans to integrate Geely's GEEA architecture.

Insiders revealed that Mercedes-Benz is closely preparing for the development of the "Phoenix" platform, with an expected SOP in 2030. By then, it will replace Mercedes-Benz's existing MMA platform, which is applicable to both gasoline and electric vehicles, to produce compact models such as the A-Class, B-Class, GLA, GLB, and CLA under the Mercedes-Benz brand. These models will be sold globally.

Although the profit margins of Mercedes-Benz's compact models are not as high as those of the E-Class and S-Class models, they accounted for about 20% of Mercedes-Benz's global sales last year and are also the foundation for Mercedes-Benz to attract young customers. In response to the above information, 36Kr contacted Mercedes-Benz and Geely for verification. Mercedes-Benz said the information was inaccurate; as of press time, Geely had not responded.

36Kr previously reported that Mercedes-Benz encountered difficulties in developing electronic and electrical architecture software, which led to the delay of the production of the long-wheelbase pure-electric CLA. Now, having learned from the experience, Mercedes-Benz has decided to borrow Geely's electronic and electrical architecture to accelerate its electrification transformation process.

In fact, many multinational automakers have faced challenges in the EE architecture due to the foundation of the software industry. 36Kr previously reported that after Volkswagen invested in XPeng, it even sent German software engineers to XPeng for long-term training.

Mercedes-Benz is not the first foreign automaker to borrow the "soft" power of domestic brands to develop electric vehicles, and it will surely not be the last.

Mercedes-Benz China Takes Over Compact Car Development, Radiating Globally

In the past three months, Mercedes-Benz has undergone a major internal adjustment.

At the end of last year, Ola Källenius, the chairman of Mercedes-Benz's board of directors, held several meetings with multiple executives to discuss the company's future strategic direction. "How to reduce costs and achieve profitability was the core topic," an insider told 36Kr.

Less than a month later, the decision from these meetings was sent to Mercedes-Benz's R & D center in China: Mercedes-Benz's R & D center in China has taken on a new role as the global headquarters for compact car development, independently responsible for the design and development of new compact cars, while the German R & D center will focus on mid - to large - sized vehicles. The 'Phoenix' platform is the first project after Mercedes-Benz China took over the global compact car models.

This is also the first time in Mercedes-Benz's more than 130 - year history that the independent development right of a new vehicle platform has been given to a R & D center outside the German headquarters.

An insider close to Mercedes-Benz told 36Kr, "In the past 1 - 2 years, Mercedes-Benz has been studying the cost magic of Chinese cars." Cost reduction is one of the core goals of this decision.

This change has been carried out vigorously.

In mid - to late January, the new vehicle project emerged: after the MMA platform, Mercedes-Benz will launch a new platform called "Phoenix" to produce new compact cars. This platform will be independently developed by the Chinese R & D center, and SOP is tentatively scheduled for 2030.

The MMA platform is Mercedes-Benz's second attempt at electrification after the EQ series. It was launched in 2024 and plans to produce models such as the pure-electric CLA and the hybrid GLA/GLB.

According to the information released by Mercedes-Benz in 2024, the MMA platform uses an 800V high-voltage architecture and is equipped with a silicon carbide motor. The vehicles have a cruising range of over 750 km and are equipped with a new generation of intelligent cockpits and L2+ level assisted driving, almost on par with the mainstream new energy vehicle platforms in China at that time.

However, it was not until November 2025 that the first model of the MMA platform, the pure-electric CLA, was delivered in the Chinese market. During the same period, new models from Chinese new - force brands had entered the era of in - cockpit large models, and intelligent driving had also entered the hardware preparation stage for L3 level.

In the rapidly evolving market, Mercedes-Benz's decision reflects fundamental business rationality: rather than continuously investing resources to solve the problems of the MMA platform, it is better to face the sunk costs and focus on a more promising future.

The newly launched Phoenix platform is Mercedes-Benz's new anchor point.

In the past, the R & D model of foreign brands in China has been limited to "developed by the headquarters, verified and introduced by the Chinese team." Under this cooperation model, most Chinese teams do not have complete development experience in new vehicle development projects.

However, the maturity of the intelligent electric vehicle industry in China has gradually changed this situation. Volkswagen was the first to change its strategy. With the vision of building a "Wolfsburg in China," it established a R & D center with over 3,000 people in Anhui in two years to support the development of new Volkswagen vehicles, including the R & D of core components such as the electronic and electrical architecture.

Mercedes-Benz's R & D center in China was established in 2014. After ten years of development, it currently has a total staff of about 2,000 people. To catch up with electrification, Mercedes-Benz is also trying to give the vehicle - level development authority to the Chinese team to draw resources from China's electrification fertile ground.

Not Just Geely, Mercedes-Benz Widely Seeks Industry Chain Partners

Although Geely does not have board voting rights and actual management rights, it is still one of the major shareholders of Mercedes-Benz. The close equity relationship has created many preconditions for the cooperation between Mercedes-Benz and Geely.

The previous - generation hybrid CLA and GLA models of the MMA platform were equipped with engines developed in cooperation with Geely. The hybrid new vehicle project being prepared by Mercedes-Benz China also plans to use Geely's power technology. After several cooperations, a foundation of trust has been established between Mercedes-Benz and Geely.

36Kr previously reported that Mercedes-Benz has long conducted research on new vehicle competitors in the Chinese market and has carried out comprehensive teardown studies on individual models. Among them, the Zeekr 001 under Geely Group was the first model for Mercedes-Benz's teardown study.

An insider told 36Kr that Mercedes-Benz's internal evaluation of the Zeekr 001 is quite good. "Engineers recognize that the technology and materials of the Zeekr 001 are good, and after the teardown, they found that the cost of the 001 is much lower than that of Mercedes-Benz."

"So, the first choice for the Phoenix project is actually Zeekr's electronic and electrical architecture," the insider told 36Kr.

The electronic and electrical architectures under Geely Group mainly include GEEA and ZEEA. ZEEA 3.0 is one of Geely's core architectures, but it is currently only used for the Zeekr brand. "The investment in the ZEEA architecture is quite large, and the cost is relatively high," an insider told 36Kr.

GEEA is used in models such as Geely Boyue/Star Yue, Galaxy E5, and Lynk & Co 900. An insider close to Geely told 36Kr that compared with the GEEA 3.0 version, the GEEA 4.0 architecture not only has improved performance but also has made more efforts in integration at the underlying architecture. "Simply put, it is more user - friendly and cheaper."

Cost is the core requirement for Mercedes-Benz to seek cooperation this time.

36Kr learned that in addition to Geely's vehicle architecture, Mercedes-Benz is also in preliminary contact with BYD to explore cooperation in the battery field.

Intelligent Electric Vehicles: Chinese Technology Empowers the Global Industry

The cooperation between Geely and Mercedes-Benz reflects a new trend of domestic brands' technology reverse - output in the era of intelligent cars.

In the era of traditional cars, the technologies and standards related to vehicle manufacturing were all in the hands of foreign automakers. "Trading the market for technology" was a prominent label of the domestic automotive industry.

In the era of intelligent cars, the level of intelligence has increasingly become a new benchmark for a vehicle's product strength. Intelligence is an advantage for many Chinese automakers but a weakness for many foreign automakers.

Mercedes-Benz postponed the production of the long - wheelbase pure - electric CLA due to the slow progress in the development of electronic and electrical architecture software.

Volkswagen also postponed the launch of models such as the Audi Q6L, A5L, and Porsche Macan EV developed based on the PPE platform to varying degrees for the same reason.

Therefore, foreign brands have started to look for Chinese automakers to form alliances.

In 2023, Volkswagen and XPeng announced that they had reached a technical framework agreement to jointly develop two Volkswagen - branded electric vehicles. At the same time, Volkswagen invested about 5 billion yuan in XPeng. Last year, their cooperation expanded from Volkswagen's pure - electric platform in the Chinese market to fuel and hybrid vehicle platforms.

Also in 2023, Stellantis and Leapmotor jointly established Leapmotor International. Leapmotor provided Stellantis with the LEAP 3.5 architecture and three - electric technologies in exchange for Stellantis' overseas channels and production capacity.

In addition, before Mercedes-Benz, Renault has also had in - depth cooperation with Geely for many years:

In 2022, Geely exported the CMA architecture and hybrid technology to Renault Korea and obtained Renault's design and channels in Korea. Last year, Renault announced that it would borrow Geely's GEA pure - electric architecture to develop two electric models. In return, Geely's overseas models such as the EX5 and EX2 can be launched in Brazil through Renault's channels.

In February this year, according to Reuters, Ford also showed an intention to cooperate with Geely. The two parties are discussing having Geely use Ford's existing production capacity in Europe to produce cars, and Geely will export technologies in areas such as autonomous driving systems and intelligent connected software to Ford.

Multinational automakers such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and Ford, which are eager to complete their intelligent transformation, have successively borrowed the "soul" of Chinese automakers to improve their intelligent vehicle development capabilities. This may herald the arrival of a new global automotive industry pattern.

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