David Tracey, a former automotive engineer and car enthusiast, said the market has spoken and not everyone is ready to move to fully electric cars.
Mercedes-Benz The company this week acknowledged that its goal of producing only electric cars has not worked out as well as it had hoped, amid declining profits, and reiterated that it will continue to produce gas-powered cars for the next 10 years.
“We want to achieve CO2-neutral vehicles by 2039,” CEO Ola Källenius said in prepared remarks to shareholders at Wednesday’s shareholders meeting. “However, transformation may take longer than expected.”
Mercedes has repeatedly assured shareholders that it will continue producing gasoline engines for the next 10 years, even as profits decline due to the push toward EVs. (Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo/Reuters Photo)
Källenius said Mercedes would remain committed to building both EVs and electric combustion engines “all the way into the 2030s, if there is demand.”
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The speech comes as the German luxury carmaker posted first-quarter earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of 3.86 billion euros ($4.13 billion), compared with LSEG’s forecast of 3.87 billion euros. This was done after reporting a decrease of %.
Mercedes previously set a goal of producing only electric cars by 2030. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
This is the second time this year that Mercedes has withdrawn its all-electric goal, having previously set a goal of making all of its sales electric by 2030.
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In February, the company announced that it would not be able to meet the 2025 development deadline for EVs. including hybrid, accounting for 50% of total sales. The company said at the time that that goal would be delayed until at least 2030 because of weak demand for electric vehicles.
A Mercedes-Benz EQB 300 4MATIC electric vehicle (EV) is charging at a ChargePoint charging station at an Avis rental location near LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in Queens, New York. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
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The CEO previously warned late last year that sales in Europe were unlikely to be fully electric by 2030. battery powered car Currently, they account for only 11% of total sales, or 19% if hybrids are included.
FOX Business’ Chris Pandolfo and Reuters contributed to this report.
