Mercedes aims to fuel road to electric luxury with 'desire'

At a strategy day on the French Cote d'Azur, where it exhibited its luxury cars to analysts, investors, and select customers, Mercedes-Benz announced a new strategy based on "creating desire" through scarcity. The German automaker announced on Thursday that it will devote 75% of its expenditures on top-end vehicles and its most popular category of "core luxury" C-Class and E-Class models, while reducing the number of entry-level models.

The semiconductor shortfall that has plagued the industry for the past two years, according to CEO Ola Kaellenius, has allowed Mercedes-Benz to test out higher rates on customers, something it will continue to do even after the shortage eases. "At some point restrictions (in semiconductor supply) will be lifted, but we will stick with the discipline," he said.

Mercedes-Benz has stated that if market conditions allow, it plans to sell only electric vehicles by 2030. According to Kaellenius, the number of electric vehicles sold will increase in the second half of the decade as more models are released."We want to put ourselves in a position where we can serve all our markets electrically. If it's 2030 plus 'x'... it's certainly not bigger than '5'," Kaellenius said.