Mercedes-Benz Korea President: "Direct Car Sales Benefit Both Customers and Dealers"

Headquarters Project 'Retail of the Future'
"Electric Cars, Ultimately Increasing... New Car Deliveries to Normalize Next Month"

Matthias Bechtle, President of Mercedes-Benz Korea, stated, "The direct sales project ‘Retail of the Future (RoF)’ will play a key role in integrating the customer experience," adding, "It benefits both dealers and customers."

On the 20th, Bechtle met with reporters from the Korea Automobile Journalists Association and explained the purpose and direction of RoF, saying, "The way consumers purchase cars and receive services is changing." RoF is a project name promoted at the German Mercedes headquarters level. Although the approach varies slightly by major markets or countries, it refers to the method of selling cars directly to consumers. This is the first time the President of Mercedes-Benz Korea has provided a detailed explanation of this project.

Matthias Beitl, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Korea, is being interviewed by reporters from the Korea Automobile Journalists Association at the headquarters on the 20th.
[Photo by Mercedes-Benz Korea]

He explained, "Customers should have the same experience both online and offline. After researching products online, when they visit an offline store, they shouldn’t have to repeatedly explain what they need again. The integration we talk about means that the information seen online should be the basis when visiting the offline store, so customers don’t have to repeat themselves."

The domestic imported car sales structure involves the importer (Mercedes-Benz Korea) bringing in products and handing them over to each dealer, who then sells to consumers. The frontline dealers are the ones directly interacting with customers for sales, maintenance, and after-sales service.

Even if Mercedes-Benz Korea establishes a direct sales system as part of RoF, company officials added that the role of dealers will not disappear. There will still be customers who want to visit showrooms for direct consultations, and maintenance work will continue to be necessary.

The CLA concept model unveiled by Mercedes-Benz at CES this January. It is planned to apply next-generation AI virtual assistant software.
[Photo by Yonhap News, AP]

Bechtle said, "Dealers can eliminate the burden and obstacles of holding inventory and administrative tasks such as paperwork, allowing them to focus solely on customers and provide the best brand experience. Customers can view the entire vehicle lineup at once without having to visit multiple showrooms and don’t need to worry as much about price negotiations." Currently, each dealer has different capacities to offer discounts on new car prices, but under a direct sales structure, customers can be offered a price they can accept at once.

Despite a slight slowdown in the growth of electric vehicles in Korea, Bechtle predicted that demand for electric vehicles will ultimately increase. He said, "Customers who have driven EQ electric vehicles in Korea and other global markets do not want to return to internal combustion engine cars," adding, "We believe electric vehicles are still the trend and will continue to focus intensively on them."

He also stated, "Since the electric vehicle market sentiment can suddenly reverse, we want to be prepared and closely follow customer demand," expressing a plan to balance and respond to both electric and internal combustion engine vehicles. The electric vehicles to be released domestically this year include the facelifted EQA and EQB models, the high-end Maybach EQS SUV, and the electrified off-road G-Class model.

Matthias Beitl, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Korea, is being interviewed by reporters from the Korea Automobile Journalists Association at the headquarters on the 20th.
[Photo by Mercedes-Benz Korea]

He also emphasized that rather than competing with the German rival brand BMW in sales, the focus is on enhancing the customer experience. He said, "Our focus is on creating an excellent brand experience. While we would be happy to be number one in sales, we have never made fighting for first place a strategic focus."

Bechtle explained that due to the impact of the Israel war, maritime transport near the Red Sea has been difficult, causing delays in delivering new cars to domestic customers, but the situation is expected to improve from next month. He said, "Thousands of E-Class customers are waiting, and the shipping period has been extended by about four weeks. It is difficult to secure ships to transport vehicles to Asia," adding, "Many cars will arrive from the end of this month through next month, and the situation will normalize to some extent." He also mentioned that discussions are underway with the German headquarters and the government to increase shipping capacity and reduce production time at each factory.

Regarding the vehicle operating system (OS) MB.OS, he emphasized that they are taking an open approach to reflect the demands of each country or region. Having managed sales and other operations at headquarters and major markets and overseen digital services and online transaction systems since 2020, Bechtle said, "We plan to develop software technology that recognizes people not only by fingerprint but also by iris when they get in the car, allowing the car to provide services and respond automatically. We aim to integrate this into applications to surprise customers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.