September 4, 2025 • 38 mins
Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius confirms the G-Wagon Cabriolet is coming back—and this time, it’ll be sold in the US. Plus, Hannah covers the world debut of the Audi Concept C and Matt drives the Land Rover Octa.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm Hannah Elliott and I'm Matt Miller, and this is
Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Coming up on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
We speak with Mercedes CEO Ola Collenius.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
This is a really big deal that Ola came to
talk with us. Matt and I am very excited about
what he chose to share with us. A world exclusive
on Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
The last time we had it, I think the last
series was in twenty thirteen. You could buy it. We
had a final edition. If you had bought one of those,
and I know that Bloomberg viewers are savvy business people,
you would have gotten it a little bit north of
one hundred thousand dollars. If you want to buy one
now used one, albeit you probably have to pay between
(00:56):
four and five hundred thousand. So you see the icon status.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
That is coming up on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
But first I want to talk about a competitor to
that g Wagon. I've been driving the land Rover Defender
Octa for the last week and Hannah, I'm sure you
know this is the V eight version and it is
essentially a BMWV eight to twin turbo four point four
leader powertrain that they use in the range Rover and
(01:25):
have been for a few years. Otherwise you can't get
a V eight in the Defender anymore. They did have
the beloved supercharged five liter powertrain in that previously.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Now this is your only choice for a.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
V eight and it's a stunning vehicle. I think from
the exterior they've executed it really well. Mine came in
this really cool dark green, almost black.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Color.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
But the price is so high for such a spartan vehicle.
You know, the Defender on the interior is pretty spartan.
They've made it nice with leather and stuff. But one
hundred and fifty three thousand and change, I think is
the starting price before you add any options, which makes it,
you know, sixty percent more expensive than a Bronco raptor,
(02:18):
fifty percent more expensive than a Geep Wrangler three ninety two,
and even more expensive than the base Mercedes G Wagon,
which I think is a huge, a huge ask, right
because it's just I mean, it's special, but is it
as special as a G Class.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, here's my question to you. For that price, if
I saw the Octa on the street, would I know
it's the special one or not?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
No?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
No, I don't think unless you are a Landrover Defender
fanatic or you know. I mean, you might know it's
the Octa, and I might know it's the Octa, but
no one else would know. And honestly, you can get
really cool color ways in the other models. So yeah,
(03:07):
I don't think it sounds particularly good. You know, it's
it's not a big displacement vaid.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
It almost sounds like an inline six motor.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Maybe that's just the fact that I know it's got
BMW heritage, but you wouldn't know.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
No.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, I mean it's interesting because you think my thought
process is okay, like Defenders wore Ranch vehicles forever, So
does it seem weird that one is that expensive? Yes,
But then you got to say, well, the G class
was a military vehicle, is it? You know, is it
fair to hold the land Rover to a different standard.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Somehow, the land Rovers feels like it should be a
little bit more attainable to me somehow.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And the weird thing is this price is higher than
the price you would pay for a range Rover with
the same power train. So okay, it's got bigger turbo chargers,
it has over six hundred horse power. They've beefed it
up a little bit, but you can get the range Rover,
which is, you know, a step up from the Defender.
(04:16):
It's certainly in terms of luxury for like one hundred
and thirty five with a four point four leter twin
turbo V eight. So I don't know how many sales
they're going to make of this.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, it'll be interesting. There's also a part of me
that's like, well, what about just a Ford Bronco. If
you're going in that direction and you want something kind
of retro but the new version of it, you could
just get a Ford Bronco, right call it even.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, I mean that's probably what I
would do. I love the way the Bronco looks. I
frankly I prefer it to the Defender. It's not quite
as big the Bronco. And then the one issue that
will be important to a lot of well healed buyers
is the NVH issue that I that I will speak
about and just a little bit with Olacholenius. The CEO
(05:07):
Mercedes like the Bronco, no matter what you do to it,
it's loud, it vibrates a lot, it's pretty harsh in
terms of like getting in and out and living with.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
It on a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Like, it's great, that's what you want with that kind
of vehicle for a lot of people. But this Defender,
much like the G Class, is very vault like on
the inside. When you get in there, you're completely protected
from everything outside and you know you don't hear everything outside.
It doesn't rattle or shake too much, so at least
(05:44):
it's got the noise, vibration, and harshness under control in
terms of what you would expect from a luxury vehicle.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Well, that's that's good to hear. Yeah, I can't wait
to drive it. I think I might have that coming
up in my in my roster. I hope I can
drive it and compare it and see if I agree
with you.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Matt, all right, that's coming up. Well, your drive will
come up on a future program. Yeah, and the Mercedes
Interview CEO of Mercedes is coming up on this program.
You're listening to Hot Pursuit from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Matt
Miller along with Hannah Elliott. You've got more on the
way after this. Now, let's talk about concept cars. Audi
(06:31):
just rolled out a new one and Hannah, you were.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
There, Yes, I was there and I'm still here actually
in Milan the early part of this week. AUDI had
a big media event last night at a hotel owned
by the Ferragama family incidentally or created by them. Actually
I think it's owned by the Vatican anyway. AUDI debuted
the Concept See, which they are saying is basically their
(06:59):
complete moved Boonshot revolution that they are basing all of
their brand, imaging and all of their products on from
here going forward. The concept See is a two c
electric sports car that basically, if you can imagine a
TT and an R eight push together, you kind of
(07:19):
get the concept CE. Although the Concept See is longer
and wider than both of those, especially the right that's
kind of what you're looking at. It's very brutalist, it'
very it's like a monolithic block, and it's also got
a drop top. It's a target style sports car. So yeah,
it was very interesting to spend a few days with
(07:41):
Audi and hear about this car and hear them talk
about striving for Clarity, which is their new tagline, and
they basically were very upfront about saying, we got way
too complicated. We were trying to be all things to
all people. We were too complex for our consumers. We
tried to everything all at once, and now we are
(08:02):
going to pair it all back and we're doing simple
minimal in a real way. And the concept CC or
C is their attempt at that they.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Can learn from Landrover Defender because that interior is minimalist.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
But actually it makes sense to me.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You know, Audi is the luxury brand of Volkswagen, and
I can see that they do their sort of froufrough
stuff with Bentley or Porsche or Lamborghini, right, they might
as well keep it simple, you know, minimalist luxury with Audi.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
I feel like that tracks.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah, I mean I would say Bentley is the luxury
brand of Volkswagen really, and you know, throwing Lamborghini. Honestly,
I think Audi has really been struggling, and they admit it.
I mean, this isn't anything new. They've struggled to even
be a choice behind Porsche obviously within their own family,
but even behind BMW and Mercedes. You know, if you
(08:59):
had asked me what does Audi mean? I would have
been a little unclear. It's been vague. So yeah, this,
you know, it's interesting that you bring up luxury brand
because yesterday and a round table, their chief Dolner said,
we want to be the most aspirational premium brand out there,
(09:22):
and he kind of admitted he knows they're not right
now and they really need to ramp up and go
for it.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I guess they're like premium economy for Volkswagen, and then
Bentley's like the full business class or first class. I
feel like, by the way, Audi, my dad had an
Auty five thousand when I was a little kid. Audi
the RS two was the first performance car that I
ever drove. I drove an RS two with a stick
in Cologne when I was like eighteen years old. And
(09:51):
then an Audi a four station wagon was the first
new car I ever bought with my own money, so
I have a real personal connection. Also, Audi made my
favorite concept vehicle of all time, the Audi Nannook Na
and uk.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Out that is a queer reference.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, so I mean I'm happy for them to uh
make it make somewhat of a comeback.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I thought, you know, the e Tron, the e Tron Era.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
At the very beginning, I thought this is gonna take off,
and it kind of didn't. So I'm glad that they're
stepping it up.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
This is a whole new era for sure. At Audi,
they have their designer Masamo for Sella. Of course it's
perfect for our our use. He was formerly a Jaguar
Landrover until last year. Last year he moved to Audi,
and obviously he didn't completely design this new concept, see
didn't have that much time. But Audi was quick to
(10:49):
say that he did have his hands on this vehicle.
And Massamo is obsessed with the TT like that is
his icon. I didn't hear you mentioned the TT in
your list, Matt So. That makes me think maybe it's
too small for us, but you know, yeah, yeah, I
never honestly, I never liked the TT. It felt too small,
(11:14):
but Massimo loved it. And it's interesting that we've been
talking about land Rovers because he was at Landrover for
many years. Now he's at Audi, and he he thinks
Audi has icons too, just like you're saying, Matt So.
And of course the Auto Union cars from the thirties,
like those old race cars really were exceptional and I
(11:34):
think Audi's trying to retain some of that glamour as well.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah, in the Class B quattro as well. All right,
coming up on the show, we speak with Mercedes CEO
Ola Collenius. I'm Matt Miller along with Hannah Elliott. More
hot Pursuit after the break, we are now joined by
Ola Collenius. He's chairman of the management board and CEO
(12:01):
at Mercedes Benz. Ola, thank you for joining con Pursuits.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Pleasure to be with you, guys, And yes, we are
in the final preparations for this weekend and we have
of course brought some great world premieres to Munich this year.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
So what are you going to show?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
What's the standout debut for you at Munich this year?
Speaker 4 (12:23):
The standout debut is the all new electric GLC, which
is based upon a whole new architecture that we called
Mercedes Benz Electric Architecture MBA. Considering that the GLC today
in our portfolio is our most sold model, we have
taken that extremely popular car and literally in every dimension,
(12:47):
taking it to the next level. So this is a
very very big world premiere for us.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
So Ola, tell us how important this GLC is in
hitting some of your targets that you've talked about. Obviously
the world evis is slightly chaotic these days. How crucial
is this car for Mercedes.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
It's a very important car because that segment, the compact SUVs,
that's a model that is popular everywhere in the world,
and that segment has grown for us over the years,
and indeed it is individually the most sold car from
mercedespen So when you do that, you really want to
(13:29):
delight Mercedes fans and customers around the world and also
surprised them a little bit. So in this particular case,
I think the engineers they looked at this as a
special challenge. And of course it's a second generation electric vehicles,
so in all powertrain dimensions, incredible on efficiency should be
(13:51):
around benchmarking its class with that coming, good range, incredibly
fast charging charging almost and into the same thing as fueling.
Not quite, but you can charge several hundred kilometers in
ten minutes. So all of those dimensions, and for those
people who maybe have not made the leap into the
(14:12):
electric era yet, we had tried to engineer out every
reason why you wouldn't. And of course it's going to
be a Mercedes through and through it ushers in our
new design language. So next generation design language from Mercedes
will start with this car, and if you step into it,
you feel at home. It's like a welcome home feeling
(14:35):
of a Mercedes Benz and considering it's a compact suv,
it's pretty big. If I put myself in my most
comfortable driving position, and I'm six four and a half,
I could actually sit behind myself very comfortably, have space
between the seat and my knees, and certainly between the
head and the very beautiful sky roof. So we have
(14:56):
thought this package through into the last detail. So I
think this car is something that is going to convince
Mercedes fans around the world.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Sounds impressive, certainly for tall drivers.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Hannah and I both have the same issues I'm sure
that you have in a normal vehicle. What about the
boldness that we've seen from BMW, Some analysts are worried
that Mercedes may be a little bit more conservative. I'm
not sure that they can make that judgment until they
see the vehicle this weekend. But you know, four hundred
(15:31):
horsepower from a dual motor setup in the Noia class
to four hundred miles of EPA range two hundred miles
of charging in ten minutes, can you meet or beat
those standards?
Speaker 4 (15:41):
If you would just take out the technical spec book
of the new GLC. We're not going to be shy
in literally every single dimension. We will be world class
in many the outright leader and in some amongst the best.
So we have pulled out all the stops with the
new GLC at all worried that the technical specs of
(16:03):
this vehicle has anything to hide. And I also would
like to highlight the Numerocedes bands operating system and the
ADAS capability of this vehicle. It literally has twenty seven
sensors looking in all directions, and it has the supercomputer
on board and all the genes for jumping into level
(16:24):
two plus plus automated driving from the word go where
it's regulatory allowed. So literally it feels like you have
an autonomous car still in this case supervised by the driver.
And if you then add the absolutely insane ultra screen
pillar to pillar, and I'm talking about one seamless screen
(16:45):
in this case, and how we have added any digital
experience that you can possibly dream of to this car,
but also giving it an esthetic look like maybe you
have on your smartphone. You have a very very nice
and beautiful wallpaper. All of those things that also makes
the feeling inside the car a digital delightful experience but
(17:12):
beyond the high tech where we're definitely going to be
on the leading edge, it's more than this. It's a
car made for you. So every single dimension of the car,
the safety, the way it rides and drives, how the
seat wraps around you. You can drive hundreds of miles
and you feel refreshed when you step out of the car.
The things that make a Mercedes Spens and Mercedes Spence,
(17:34):
all of those things have been taken to the next
level in this car as well. So creating an important
vehicle like this, it's not just about the flashy technical
numbers that we have. It's really thinking through what does
the human want. This is human centered innovation at its
very best. Stay tuned for Sunday when we reveal it.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Well, I'm curious on the other side of things. I know,
obviously you're the head of the European automaker body, the ACEA,
and you've been pretty vocal about regulations that are realistic
for meeting decarbonation goals, etc. Can you tell us a
little bit more about what you mean by realistic? What
(18:15):
would that look like to have a market driven regulatory
infrastructure versus something else.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
So, in the role as president of Asia this year,
and it's something that rotates between the CEOs of the
car makers in Europe. You have to kind of take
off your own hat running your own companies, take off
the Mercedes Benz hat and I put on an industry
hat and talk to all the OEMs, but not just
the twenty plus OEMs. In this case, we stand side
(18:46):
by side with the sister organization for the suppliers that's
called CLIPA and Matthias think of Clipper and I are
working with the suppliers and the OEMs to do an
inventory where we stand right now in the regulatory environment
and how we successfully transform this industry and successfully find
(19:10):
the right path towards decarbonization. So I want to stress
that this is all the OEMs, with of course some
various opinions, but a strong common denominator and literally thousands
and thousands of suppliers, and the conclusion that we come
to is quite clear. We're all on the way towards
zero emission. There are no ifs or butts. That is
(19:33):
the journey, that is the destination. The EU as an
economic region has committed to being net zero by twenty
to fifty. We wholeheartedly support this. We also wholeheartedly support
that electrification is the main road to this, so the
electric vehicle will play the main role in achieving those
(19:54):
targets on the way to net zero. To demonstrate that,
not only have we in the last five or six
years put hundreds of billions of investment into this manufacturers
and suppliers and launched hundreds of vehicles, so there is
a very broad offering already, and on top of that,
(20:16):
we're about to invest the next chunk of hundreds of
billions into this. So the industry is committed. I want
to say that as a preface before we go into
the challenges, and we need to make some course corrections.
In spite of the ambition, In spite of those good efforts,
(20:39):
one must recognize and for the world as a whole,
the world markets at the whole, it's a very heterogeneous picture.
You use the word chaotic, I would say heterogeneous. That
the state or the take rate of BEVs what we
thought five or six years ago is not yet at
(21:00):
the level in twenty twenty five that we should have
been at, and we're now looking at kind of nine
years time to go to literally one hundred percent, and
that's where we're saying, okay, if we haven't achieved as
a market, as a region already the milestones, then we
(21:21):
analyze why is that and where do we make a
course correction, and we suggest in general two main things.
One is absolutely doubling down on the enabling factors and
putting money behind, an effort, behind everything that you need
to make electric mobility successful. I'm going to use one example,
(21:45):
charging infrastructure. The EU has twenty seven individual countries. I
would say in about six or seven of those, in
the last five six years, a significant effort has been
made and charging infrastructure has been built up, maybe not
as much as it should have been at this stage,
but it's on the way. But literally in twenty of
(22:06):
the twenty seven countries it's still in its infancy. Do
we believe do we really believe to cover one hundred
percent of the purchase intent by twenty thirty five in
nine years time, that in those nine years we're going
to go from an infancy stage to fully fledged, built
out charging infrastructure in every single country. Because we're talking
(22:30):
about the whole market here, that's going to be a
herculean task. Whatever we do, we have to double down
on this to make sure that electric mobility becomes even
more attractive to consumers and ultimately is the thing you
can couple that with all sorts of other measures where
(22:51):
we're suggesting to the Commission not a ready recipe and
say do exactly this, but think about incentivization and nudging
when shaping policies to make the total cost of ownership
of the electric vehicle even more attractive so that we
can get ultimately one day to full penetration.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
But it seems in just.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Stock taking, it's a very very big ask now that
we're around fifteen percent take rate in twenty twenty five
achieved in the last five or six years, to do
the eighty five in nine years time. But that ask
double down on the enabling conditions. That's number one. Number two,
(23:37):
we think that the method in general that is being
applied select only one stakeholder of many in this once
in one hundred years systemic shift and put the complete
burden on that stakeholder, in this case the producer of
the vehicle, and if the producer of the vehicle doesn't
make it, sanction it with draconian penalties. We don't think
(23:59):
that method, that planning method is the best method. We
want to turn it on its head and say why
don't we use market forces instead and switch to a
market economy driven approach with incentivization and nudging, free up
the market for technology neutrality and let the consumer choose.
(24:20):
And I underline again with the electric cars as the
main actor in this play, but also allow different forms
of hybrid formats and maybe a sliver at the bottom
of combustion, high tech combustion electronic combustion vehicles where some
of the segments of the markets by twenty thirty five
(24:40):
are still hard to abate from a consumer point of view.
If we switch to that, we should then open up
the horizon and look at the complete CO two footprint
of what's going on, not just the tailpipe emission of
the newly registered vehicles that are bought in that year.
In fact, the car park in Europe is two hundred
(25:00):
and fifty million vehicles and new registration sits at around
thirteen million vehicles. So you have in that sense maybe
five percent turnover of the fleet every year if consumers
don't choose to hang on to their cars longer. So
why don't we look at the CO two footprint in
a more holistic way and see if we can find ways,
(25:22):
if we flexibilize twenty thirty five to also reduce CO
two of the whole value chain here, So we want
to open up the discussion. And if we do do that,
we can avoid and I'll end with this for now,
we can avoid an effect that maybe if the system
is not ready, what could consumers do? And I think
(25:45):
this is a scenario that is not unlikely. If not
every purchase intent is covered by then through charging, infrastructure
or other reasons, why the consumer wants to go for
something else. The consumer might buy the last combustion vehicle
in thirty three or thirty four, hold on to it longer,
the car park gets older, very bad for decarbonization. The
(26:08):
market reduces drastically or maybe even collapses in twenty thirty five,
and it takes three or four or five years for
it to recover back up to the thirteen million. You
would destroy so much economic value, harm so many companies,
so many suppliers, mid size, smaller, family owned businesses. Why
would we want to jeopardize that economic strength of Europe's
(26:29):
biggest industry when there perhaps is a better path to
green That is what these two associations Assaiah and Klippa
are suggesting.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Well, you know, it makes total sense, Ola, and I
just wonder you don't have a lot of time left, right,
and you're going to I think the EU is going
to revisit this twenty thirty five goal next year. So
have you had a chance to speak with the for example,
the incoming German government, because they're willing to put their
money where their mouth is when comes to defense of Ukraine.
Shouldn't it be willing to put their money where their
(27:03):
mouth is when it comes to you.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Know, planet Earth?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
And also you know how many hundreds of thousands of
auto workers are there in Germany?
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Is friedrish Mari it's going to step up in.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
This role as president of the association, I and also
my counterpart for Clipbomb. Of course, we're speaking with policymakers
in Brussels on all levels, but also in the different countries.
And yes, of course we have also spoken to the
German government and I think the and many other governments
(27:37):
for that matter, but also to trade unions and other stakeholders.
As I said, this is a multi stakeholders systemic shift.
Once in one hundred years, we're talking about the transformation
of the world's biggest industry, so it's not a small
small task here. What I think is happening now is
that we have a debate both in the industry and
(28:00):
with many of these stakeholders, and certainly in the political space,
where a lot of people are thinking, like us, saying, oh,
hang on a minute, if it's not working the way
we intended to, yes, we need to have a political
conversation about it. But of course there's also a strong
commitment to say, decarbonization is one of the major tasks
(28:23):
of this generation. Let's not lose any speed or any
momentum in decarbonization. So I think there are some stakeholders
that go like, if we do go for flexibilization, what's
going to happen? Are we going to slow down? It's
not what we're suggesting. We're suggesting to switch method to
a method that we think is actually going to be
more successful than the current method. So I am fully
(28:46):
aware that this political debate is alive, and right now
we're in this period where a common opinion for the EU,
if they're willing to change which we urge them to do,
needs to be formed. So expect the next weeks months
(29:06):
an intense debate on this, and indeed the European Commission
and Commission is listening to the auto industry, as is
the German government. That is, for instance, the reason why
they invite us to a summit meeting on the twelfth
of September to discuss these matters. So we're not at
(29:27):
the end of the discussion. I would say we're in
the middle of the beginning.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
I'm Matt Miller along with Hannah Elliott. You're listening to
Hot Pursuit. We have more coming up after this.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Well, let's pivot a little bit to what has been
really a bright spot for Mercedes Bins, the G Class.
You and I have driven multiple variants of the G
Class together, and you know, there's so much excitement around
that vehicle and so much fandom and furvor for for decades.
You guys have already confirmed there will be a baby
(30:11):
G coming. What can you tell us about how that
is coming along, the planning for that, and also can
we expect any other variants of the G Class coming
our way?
Speaker 4 (30:22):
So we're now in full serious development of this little
brother to the big G and we're very excited about
that car. We have shown it to you know, some
of our trusted dealers and other people that we know
are fans of the brand, and I get the same
reaction every time, and they go like wow, I mean,
(30:43):
is this the G that I've been waiting for for
my daughter, for my son, or or for myself. So yes,
I can confirm that series development has started this vehicle
and it is in the pipeline, so stay tuned. But
now that you mention it, and yes, Hannah, I vividly
remember going up the famous Shuckle Mountain outside Gratz in
(31:08):
Austria with you over rocks and trees and what have you,
the most hardcore of off roading in that electric G.
And I think we mastered that quite well together. So
the G is a legend, It's an icon in our portfolio.
There is another surprise coming on Sunday in Munich at
(31:31):
the IA, we will announce the rebirth of the G
class Cavallet. So the last time we had it, I
think the last series was in twenty thirteen. You could
buy it. We had a final edition. If you had
bought one of those, and I know that Bloomberg viewers
(31:51):
are savvy business people, you would have gotten it a
little bit north of one hundred thousand dollars if you
want to buy one now used one, albeit you probably
have to pay between four and five hundred thousand. So
you see the icon status of a g caabarelet. And
we have had so many fans say, when are you
going to bring it back? When are you going to
(32:12):
bring it back? When are you going to bring it back?
Now is the time to do it, So we have
decided to kick off the development of an open top.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
G can I ask? I mean, I have so many
questions about this. I'm a big fan former owner.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I had a twenty twenty G five hundred in Berlin
that I loved. I've now turned it into a house
in Scarsdale. By the way, what kind of powertrain are
we expecting? Could this be electric and gas? Because I
think the electric powertrain really works well for the G class.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
I know you and Hannah drove it and chuckle.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I got a chance to drive it around Westchester, which
was also fantastic. And how do you deal with nvh
Like one of the best things about the G class
is that you're in an absolute vault compared to other
off road vehicles. It's just worlds of difference in terms
of the noise vibration and harshness, how do you deal
(33:07):
with the convertible.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
So on the power train, we'll keep We'll let you
guess for a little while longer. So I'm not going
to reveal that here today, but trust me, the hardcore
g fans are going to love what we're going to
do there.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
And in terms of.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
NVH, I think this is pretty amazing what has happened
on our convertibles over the year. I myself, even though
of course I get to drive a company car and
I'm thankful for it, I feel like a kid on
my birthday and Christmas on the same day. Every day
I step into, in my case, my EQS SUV, my
book I bought last year a personal car. I bought
(33:47):
an sl which is obviously a convertible, and I'm in
driving SLS and test driving and stuff like that over
the many years, so I know obviously what a convertible
feels like. And when it comes to envy, what struck
me the most, next to the incredible beauty of this
car and the performance, was that when I took it
(34:07):
for the first time on the Autubahn and I pushed
it a little bit, is how incredibly quiet it is.
And this is what I love about our engineers. You
know they never stop right. It always gets better and
better and better. So you can rest assured when we
electrify now not to electrify. When we open up the
G and make it open top, don't worry about it.
(34:31):
You're going to be able to have a conversation with
whoever sits next to you.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Okay, I gotta ask what kind of timeline are we
talking about here? If the baby G might be out
in twenty twenty seven, what are we thinking for the cabriolet?
Speaker 4 (34:46):
Not too far away?
Speaker 3 (34:49):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Let's just say that start working on selling that house, Matt.
You don't have to rush it so that you get
a good price. But it's not like it's not like
it's too far away. So wait and see.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And a follow up, is that cabriolet coming for the world?
Can we expect it'll be in all markets for Mercedes.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
In the relevant markets. Not every market in the world
is a cabriolet market, but in all the relevant markets.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
I want to ask about the SL.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
You mentioned that you bought one for yourself, and I
had the pleasure of test driving the AMG SL sixty
three S performance last week, and the power in that
thing absolutely blew me away. And it wasn't until I
was talking about it with Hannah that I actually looked
(35:40):
up the specs and saw it's more than eight hundred
horse power and more than one thousand pound feet of torque.
Then I started looking at other vehicles with those kind
of power figures.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
And it's not till I get to.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
A Lamborghini Red Welto at double the price that I
start to see those kinds of figures. After that you
have to go to Bugatti and then Kunigzag. How has
that been received? And you know, two hundred twenty five
thousand seemed like a hefty price tag until I noticed
that that power.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
Yeah, it's pretty crazy, isn't it. And if you're an
AMG fan, you're a performance fan, so you can never
have enough performance. But I think the best news is
that is a car that you can drive every day
to work. So it's not just that you have bought
a supercar with unbelievable acceleration and performance and all that.
It's a car that you can actually use every single day.
(36:31):
I think that's the unique position of AMG. You get
motorsports on the road, but on the road Monday through
Friday as well, not just for a Sunday afternoon outing.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
It's really a car.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
That you would like to drive every single day.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Our thanks Tola Kelenius for joining us. He's the chairman
of the management board and CEO of Mercedes Benz. I'm
pretty excited about driving the convertible g Wagon, the cabrio
g Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
My question is going to be like, how much of
a cage does it have on it? Is it truly
like open, open air or does that have a cage
kind of like a jeep wrangler, you know what I mean?
Or is are they truly gonna go full cabrio? No?
Speaker 2 (37:11):
I mean I imagine it'll have some kind of rollcage that
looks pretty boss when they do it right. Yeah, although
I guess did the previous did the older models just
have a full convertible top open?
Speaker 1 (37:24):
It was open? It's been done well.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
It'll be like two hundred grand, so I'm not gonna
step buying one anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
We can dream that does it. For this week's show.
Remember to follow and subscribe to Hot Pursuit on Apple, Spotify,
and anywhere else you listen. You can also send us
your comments. Please send us your comments. Email us at
Hot Pursuit at bloomberg dot net.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
And check out Hannah's columns and stories on bloomberg dot
com and the Bloomberg Business App. Go there for car reviews,
events and stories that you won't find anywhere else. Find
it all at bloomberg dot com, slash Pursuits, Slack Howdos.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott. We'll be back
in your podcast feed again. Mexican MHM
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm Hannah Elliott and I'm Matt Miller, and this is
Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Coming up on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
We speak with Mercedes CEO Ola Collenius.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
This is a really big deal that Ola came to
talk with us. Matt and I am very excited about
what he chose to share with us. A world exclusive
on Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
The last time we had it, I think the last
series was in twenty thirteen. You could buy it. We
had a final edition. If you had bought one of those,
and I know that Bloomberg viewers are savvy business people,
you would have gotten it a little bit north of
one hundred thousand dollars. If you want to buy one
now used one, albeit you probably have to pay between
(00:56):
four and five hundred thousand. So you see the icon status.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
That is coming up on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
But first I want to talk about a competitor to
that g Wagon. I've been driving the land Rover Defender
Octa for the last week and Hannah, I'm sure you
know this is the V eight version and it is
essentially a BMWV eight to twin turbo four point four
leader powertrain that they use in the range Rover and
(01:25):
have been for a few years. Otherwise you can't get
a V eight in the Defender anymore. They did have
the beloved supercharged five liter powertrain in that previously.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Now this is your only choice for a.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
V eight and it's a stunning vehicle. I think from
the exterior they've executed it really well. Mine came in
this really cool dark green, almost black.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Color.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
But the price is so high for such a spartan vehicle.
You know, the Defender on the interior is pretty spartan.
They've made it nice with leather and stuff. But one
hundred and fifty three thousand and change, I think is
the starting price before you add any options, which makes it,
you know, sixty percent more expensive than a Bronco raptor,
(02:18):
fifty percent more expensive than a Geep Wrangler three ninety two,
and even more expensive than the base Mercedes G Wagon,
which I think is a huge, a huge ask, right
because it's just I mean, it's special, but is it
as special as a G Class.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, here's my question to you. For that price, if
I saw the Octa on the street, would I know
it's the special one or not?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
No?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
No, I don't think unless you are a Landrover Defender
fanatic or you know. I mean, you might know it's
the Octa, and I might know it's the Octa, but
no one else would know. And honestly, you can get
really cool color ways in the other models. So yeah,
(03:07):
I don't think it sounds particularly good. You know, it's
it's not a big displacement vaid.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
It almost sounds like an inline six motor.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Maybe that's just the fact that I know it's got
BMW heritage, but you wouldn't know.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
No.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, I mean it's interesting because you think my thought
process is okay, like Defenders wore Ranch vehicles forever, So
does it seem weird that one is that expensive? Yes,
But then you got to say, well, the G class
was a military vehicle, is it? You know, is it
fair to hold the land Rover to a different standard.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Somehow, the land Rovers feels like it should be a
little bit more attainable to me somehow.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And the weird thing is this price is higher than
the price you would pay for a range Rover with
the same power train. So okay, it's got bigger turbo chargers,
it has over six hundred horse power. They've beefed it
up a little bit, but you can get the range Rover,
which is, you know, a step up from the Defender.
(04:16):
It's certainly in terms of luxury for like one hundred
and thirty five with a four point four leter twin
turbo V eight. So I don't know how many sales
they're going to make of this.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, it'll be interesting. There's also a part of me
that's like, well, what about just a Ford Bronco. If
you're going in that direction and you want something kind
of retro but the new version of it, you could
just get a Ford Bronco, right call it even.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, I mean that's probably what I
would do. I love the way the Bronco looks. I
frankly I prefer it to the Defender. It's not quite
as big the Bronco. And then the one issue that
will be important to a lot of well healed buyers
is the NVH issue that I that I will speak
about and just a little bit with Olacholenius. The CEO
(05:07):
Mercedes like the Bronco, no matter what you do to it,
it's loud, it vibrates a lot, it's pretty harsh in
terms of like getting in and out and living with.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
It on a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Like, it's great, that's what you want with that kind
of vehicle for a lot of people. But this Defender,
much like the G Class, is very vault like on
the inside. When you get in there, you're completely protected
from everything outside and you know you don't hear everything outside.
It doesn't rattle or shake too much, so at least
(05:44):
it's got the noise, vibration, and harshness under control in
terms of what you would expect from a luxury vehicle.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Well, that's that's good to hear. Yeah, I can't wait
to drive it. I think I might have that coming
up in my in my roster. I hope I can
drive it and compare it and see if I agree
with you.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Matt, all right, that's coming up. Well, your drive will
come up on a future program. Yeah, and the Mercedes
Interview CEO of Mercedes is coming up on this program.
You're listening to Hot Pursuit from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Matt
Miller along with Hannah Elliott. You've got more on the
way after this. Now, let's talk about concept cars. Audi
(06:31):
just rolled out a new one and Hannah, you were.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
There, Yes, I was there and I'm still here actually
in Milan the early part of this week. AUDI had
a big media event last night at a hotel owned
by the Ferragama family incidentally or created by them. Actually
I think it's owned by the Vatican anyway. AUDI debuted
the Concept See, which they are saying is basically their
(06:59):
complete moved Boonshot revolution that they are basing all of
their brand, imaging and all of their products on from
here going forward. The concept See is a two c
electric sports car that basically, if you can imagine a
TT and an R eight push together, you kind of
(07:19):
get the concept CE. Although the Concept See is longer
and wider than both of those, especially the right that's
kind of what you're looking at. It's very brutalist, it'
very it's like a monolithic block, and it's also got
a drop top. It's a target style sports car. So yeah,
it was very interesting to spend a few days with
(07:41):
Audi and hear about this car and hear them talk
about striving for Clarity, which is their new tagline, and
they basically were very upfront about saying, we got way
too complicated. We were trying to be all things to
all people. We were too complex for our consumers. We
tried to everything all at once, and now we are
(08:02):
going to pair it all back and we're doing simple
minimal in a real way. And the concept CC or
C is their attempt at that they.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Can learn from Landrover Defender because that interior is minimalist.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
But actually it makes sense to me.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You know, Audi is the luxury brand of Volkswagen, and
I can see that they do their sort of froufrough
stuff with Bentley or Porsche or Lamborghini, right, they might
as well keep it simple, you know, minimalist luxury with Audi.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
I feel like that tracks.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah, I mean I would say Bentley is the luxury
brand of Volkswagen really, and you know, throwing Lamborghini. Honestly,
I think Audi has really been struggling, and they admit it.
I mean, this isn't anything new. They've struggled to even
be a choice behind Porsche obviously within their own family,
but even behind BMW and Mercedes. You know, if you
(08:59):
had asked me what does Audi mean? I would have
been a little unclear. It's been vague. So yeah, this,
you know, it's interesting that you bring up luxury brand
because yesterday and a round table, their chief Dolner said,
we want to be the most aspirational premium brand out there,
(09:22):
and he kind of admitted he knows they're not right
now and they really need to ramp up and go
for it.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I guess they're like premium economy for Volkswagen, and then
Bentley's like the full business class or first class. I
feel like, by the way, Audi, my dad had an
Auty five thousand when I was a little kid. Audi
the RS two was the first performance car that I
ever drove. I drove an RS two with a stick
in Cologne when I was like eighteen years old. And
(09:51):
then an Audi a four station wagon was the first
new car I ever bought with my own money, so
I have a real personal connection. Also, Audi made my
favorite concept vehicle of all time, the Audi Nannook Na
and uk.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Out that is a queer reference.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, so I mean I'm happy for them to uh
make it make somewhat of a comeback.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I thought, you know, the e Tron, the e Tron Era.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
At the very beginning, I thought this is gonna take off,
and it kind of didn't. So I'm glad that they're
stepping it up.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
This is a whole new era for sure. At Audi,
they have their designer Masamo for Sella. Of course it's
perfect for our our use. He was formerly a Jaguar
Landrover until last year. Last year he moved to Audi,
and obviously he didn't completely design this new concept, see
didn't have that much time. But Audi was quick to
(10:49):
say that he did have his hands on this vehicle.
And Massamo is obsessed with the TT like that is
his icon. I didn't hear you mentioned the TT in
your list, Matt So. That makes me think maybe it's
too small for us, but you know, yeah, yeah, I
never honestly, I never liked the TT. It felt too small,
(11:14):
but Massimo loved it. And it's interesting that we've been
talking about land Rovers because he was at Landrover for
many years. Now he's at Audi, and he he thinks
Audi has icons too, just like you're saying, Matt So.
And of course the Auto Union cars from the thirties,
like those old race cars really were exceptional and I
(11:34):
think Audi's trying to retain some of that glamour as well.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah, in the Class B quattro as well. All right,
coming up on the show, we speak with Mercedes CEO
Ola Collenius. I'm Matt Miller along with Hannah Elliott. More
hot Pursuit after the break, we are now joined by
Ola Collenius. He's chairman of the management board and CEO
(12:01):
at Mercedes Benz. Ola, thank you for joining con Pursuits.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Pleasure to be with you, guys, And yes, we are
in the final preparations for this weekend and we have
of course brought some great world premieres to Munich this year.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
So what are you going to show?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
What's the standout debut for you at Munich this year?
Speaker 4 (12:23):
The standout debut is the all new electric GLC, which
is based upon a whole new architecture that we called
Mercedes Benz Electric Architecture MBA. Considering that the GLC today
in our portfolio is our most sold model, we have
taken that extremely popular car and literally in every dimension,
(12:47):
taking it to the next level. So this is a
very very big world premiere for us.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
So Ola, tell us how important this GLC is in
hitting some of your targets that you've talked about. Obviously
the world evis is slightly chaotic these days. How crucial
is this car for Mercedes.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
It's a very important car because that segment, the compact SUVs,
that's a model that is popular everywhere in the world,
and that segment has grown for us over the years,
and indeed it is individually the most sold car from
mercedespen So when you do that, you really want to
(13:29):
delight Mercedes fans and customers around the world and also
surprised them a little bit. So in this particular case,
I think the engineers they looked at this as a
special challenge. And of course it's a second generation electric vehicles,
so in all powertrain dimensions, incredible on efficiency should be
(13:51):
around benchmarking its class with that coming, good range, incredibly
fast charging charging almost and into the same thing as fueling.
Not quite, but you can charge several hundred kilometers in
ten minutes. So all of those dimensions, and for those
people who maybe have not made the leap into the
(14:12):
electric era yet, we had tried to engineer out every
reason why you wouldn't. And of course it's going to
be a Mercedes through and through it ushers in our
new design language. So next generation design language from Mercedes
will start with this car, and if you step into it,
you feel at home. It's like a welcome home feeling
(14:35):
of a Mercedes Benz and considering it's a compact suv,
it's pretty big. If I put myself in my most
comfortable driving position, and I'm six four and a half,
I could actually sit behind myself very comfortably, have space
between the seat and my knees, and certainly between the
head and the very beautiful sky roof. So we have
(14:56):
thought this package through into the last detail. So I
think this car is something that is going to convince
Mercedes fans around the world.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Sounds impressive, certainly for tall drivers.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Hannah and I both have the same issues I'm sure
that you have in a normal vehicle. What about the
boldness that we've seen from BMW, Some analysts are worried
that Mercedes may be a little bit more conservative. I'm
not sure that they can make that judgment until they
see the vehicle this weekend. But you know, four hundred
(15:31):
horsepower from a dual motor setup in the Noia class
to four hundred miles of EPA range two hundred miles
of charging in ten minutes, can you meet or beat
those standards?
Speaker 4 (15:41):
If you would just take out the technical spec book
of the new GLC. We're not going to be shy
in literally every single dimension. We will be world class
in many the outright leader and in some amongst the best.
So we have pulled out all the stops with the
new GLC at all worried that the technical specs of
(16:03):
this vehicle has anything to hide. And I also would
like to highlight the Numerocedes bands operating system and the
ADAS capability of this vehicle. It literally has twenty seven
sensors looking in all directions, and it has the supercomputer
on board and all the genes for jumping into level
(16:24):
two plus plus automated driving from the word go where
it's regulatory allowed. So literally it feels like you have
an autonomous car still in this case supervised by the driver.
And if you then add the absolutely insane ultra screen
pillar to pillar, and I'm talking about one seamless screen
(16:45):
in this case, and how we have added any digital
experience that you can possibly dream of to this car,
but also giving it an esthetic look like maybe you
have on your smartphone. You have a very very nice
and beautiful wallpaper. All of those things that also makes
the feeling inside the car a digital delightful experience but
(17:12):
beyond the high tech where we're definitely going to be
on the leading edge, it's more than this. It's a
car made for you. So every single dimension of the car,
the safety, the way it rides and drives, how the
seat wraps around you. You can drive hundreds of miles
and you feel refreshed when you step out of the car.
The things that make a Mercedes Spens and Mercedes Spence,
(17:34):
all of those things have been taken to the next
level in this car as well. So creating an important
vehicle like this, it's not just about the flashy technical
numbers that we have. It's really thinking through what does
the human want. This is human centered innovation at its
very best. Stay tuned for Sunday when we reveal it.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Well, I'm curious on the other side of things. I know,
obviously you're the head of the European automaker body, the ACEA,
and you've been pretty vocal about regulations that are realistic
for meeting decarbonation goals, etc. Can you tell us a
little bit more about what you mean by realistic? What
(18:15):
would that look like to have a market driven regulatory
infrastructure versus something else.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
So, in the role as president of Asia this year,
and it's something that rotates between the CEOs of the
car makers in Europe. You have to kind of take
off your own hat running your own companies, take off
the Mercedes Benz hat and I put on an industry
hat and talk to all the OEMs, but not just
the twenty plus OEMs. In this case, we stand side
(18:46):
by side with the sister organization for the suppliers that's
called CLIPA and Matthias think of Clipper and I are
working with the suppliers and the OEMs to do an
inventory where we stand right now in the regulatory environment
and how we successfully transform this industry and successfully find
(19:10):
the right path towards decarbonization. So I want to stress
that this is all the OEMs, with of course some
various opinions, but a strong common denominator and literally thousands
and thousands of suppliers, and the conclusion that we come
to is quite clear. We're all on the way towards
zero emission. There are no ifs or butts. That is
(19:33):
the journey, that is the destination. The EU as an
economic region has committed to being net zero by twenty
to fifty. We wholeheartedly support this. We also wholeheartedly support
that electrification is the main road to this, so the
electric vehicle will play the main role in achieving those
(19:54):
targets on the way to net zero. To demonstrate that,
not only have we in the last five or six
years put hundreds of billions of investment into this manufacturers
and suppliers and launched hundreds of vehicles, so there is
a very broad offering already, and on top of that,
(20:16):
we're about to invest the next chunk of hundreds of
billions into this. So the industry is committed. I want
to say that as a preface before we go into
the challenges, and we need to make some course corrections.
In spite of the ambition, In spite of those good efforts,
(20:39):
one must recognize and for the world as a whole,
the world markets at the whole, it's a very heterogeneous picture.
You use the word chaotic, I would say heterogeneous. That
the state or the take rate of BEVs what we
thought five or six years ago is not yet at
(21:00):
the level in twenty twenty five that we should have
been at, and we're now looking at kind of nine
years time to go to literally one hundred percent, and
that's where we're saying, okay, if we haven't achieved as
a market, as a region already the milestones, then we
(21:21):
analyze why is that and where do we make a
course correction, and we suggest in general two main things.
One is absolutely doubling down on the enabling factors and
putting money behind, an effort, behind everything that you need
to make electric mobility successful. I'm going to use one example,
(21:45):
charging infrastructure. The EU has twenty seven individual countries. I
would say in about six or seven of those, in
the last five six years, a significant effort has been
made and charging infrastructure has been built up, maybe not
as much as it should have been at this stage,
but it's on the way. But literally in twenty of
(22:06):
the twenty seven countries it's still in its infancy. Do
we believe do we really believe to cover one hundred
percent of the purchase intent by twenty thirty five in
nine years time, that in those nine years we're going
to go from an infancy stage to fully fledged, built
out charging infrastructure in every single country. Because we're talking
(22:30):
about the whole market here, that's going to be a
herculean task. Whatever we do, we have to double down
on this to make sure that electric mobility becomes even
more attractive to consumers and ultimately is the thing you
can couple that with all sorts of other measures where
(22:51):
we're suggesting to the Commission not a ready recipe and
say do exactly this, but think about incentivization and nudging
when shaping policies to make the total cost of ownership
of the electric vehicle even more attractive so that we
can get ultimately one day to full penetration.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
But it seems in just.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Stock taking, it's a very very big ask now that
we're around fifteen percent take rate in twenty twenty five
achieved in the last five or six years, to do
the eighty five in nine years time. But that ask
double down on the enabling conditions. That's number one. Number two,
(23:37):
we think that the method in general that is being
applied select only one stakeholder of many in this once
in one hundred years systemic shift and put the complete
burden on that stakeholder, in this case the producer of
the vehicle, and if the producer of the vehicle doesn't
make it, sanction it with draconian penalties. We don't think
(23:59):
that method, that planning method is the best method. We
want to turn it on its head and say why
don't we use market forces instead and switch to a
market economy driven approach with incentivization and nudging, free up
the market for technology neutrality and let the consumer choose.
(24:20):
And I underline again with the electric cars as the
main actor in this play, but also allow different forms
of hybrid formats and maybe a sliver at the bottom
of combustion, high tech combustion electronic combustion vehicles where some
of the segments of the markets by twenty thirty five
(24:40):
are still hard to abate from a consumer point of view.
If we switch to that, we should then open up
the horizon and look at the complete CO two footprint
of what's going on, not just the tailpipe emission of
the newly registered vehicles that are bought in that year.
In fact, the car park in Europe is two hundred
(25:00):
and fifty million vehicles and new registration sits at around
thirteen million vehicles. So you have in that sense maybe
five percent turnover of the fleet every year if consumers
don't choose to hang on to their cars longer. So
why don't we look at the CO two footprint in
a more holistic way and see if we can find ways,
(25:22):
if we flexibilize twenty thirty five to also reduce CO
two of the whole value chain here, So we want
to open up the discussion. And if we do do that,
we can avoid and I'll end with this for now,
we can avoid an effect that maybe if the system
is not ready, what could consumers do? And I think
(25:45):
this is a scenario that is not unlikely. If not
every purchase intent is covered by then through charging, infrastructure
or other reasons, why the consumer wants to go for
something else. The consumer might buy the last combustion vehicle
in thirty three or thirty four, hold on to it longer,
the car park gets older, very bad for decarbonization. The
(26:08):
market reduces drastically or maybe even collapses in twenty thirty five,
and it takes three or four or five years for
it to recover back up to the thirteen million. You
would destroy so much economic value, harm so many companies,
so many suppliers, mid size, smaller, family owned businesses. Why
would we want to jeopardize that economic strength of Europe's
(26:29):
biggest industry when there perhaps is a better path to
green That is what these two associations Assaiah and Klippa
are suggesting.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Well, you know, it makes total sense, Ola, and I
just wonder you don't have a lot of time left, right,
and you're going to I think the EU is going
to revisit this twenty thirty five goal next year. So
have you had a chance to speak with the for example,
the incoming German government, because they're willing to put their
money where their mouth is when comes to defense of Ukraine.
Shouldn't it be willing to put their money where their
(27:03):
mouth is when it comes to you.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Know, planet Earth?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
And also you know how many hundreds of thousands of
auto workers are there in Germany?
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Is friedrish Mari it's going to step up in.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
This role as president of the association, I and also
my counterpart for Clipbomb. Of course, we're speaking with policymakers
in Brussels on all levels, but also in the different countries.
And yes, of course we have also spoken to the
German government and I think the and many other governments
(27:37):
for that matter, but also to trade unions and other stakeholders.
As I said, this is a multi stakeholders systemic shift.
Once in one hundred years, we're talking about the transformation
of the world's biggest industry, so it's not a small
small task here. What I think is happening now is
that we have a debate both in the industry and
(28:00):
with many of these stakeholders, and certainly in the political space,
where a lot of people are thinking, like us, saying, oh,
hang on a minute, if it's not working the way
we intended to, yes, we need to have a political
conversation about it. But of course there's also a strong
commitment to say, decarbonization is one of the major tasks
(28:23):
of this generation. Let's not lose any speed or any
momentum in decarbonization. So I think there are some stakeholders
that go like, if we do go for flexibilization, what's
going to happen? Are we going to slow down? It's
not what we're suggesting. We're suggesting to switch method to
a method that we think is actually going to be
more successful than the current method. So I am fully
(28:46):
aware that this political debate is alive, and right now
we're in this period where a common opinion for the EU,
if they're willing to change which we urge them to do,
needs to be formed. So expect the next weeks months
(29:06):
an intense debate on this, and indeed the European Commission
and Commission is listening to the auto industry, as is
the German government. That is, for instance, the reason why
they invite us to a summit meeting on the twelfth
of September to discuss these matters. So we're not at
(29:27):
the end of the discussion. I would say we're in
the middle of the beginning.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
I'm Matt Miller along with Hannah Elliott. You're listening to
Hot Pursuit. We have more coming up after this.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Well, let's pivot a little bit to what has been
really a bright spot for Mercedes Bins, the G Class.
You and I have driven multiple variants of the G
Class together, and you know, there's so much excitement around
that vehicle and so much fandom and furvor for for decades.
You guys have already confirmed there will be a baby
(30:11):
G coming. What can you tell us about how that
is coming along, the planning for that, and also can
we expect any other variants of the G Class coming
our way?
Speaker 4 (30:22):
So we're now in full serious development of this little
brother to the big G and we're very excited about
that car. We have shown it to you know, some
of our trusted dealers and other people that we know
are fans of the brand, and I get the same
reaction every time, and they go like wow, I mean,
(30:43):
is this the G that I've been waiting for for
my daughter, for my son, or or for myself. So yes,
I can confirm that series development has started this vehicle
and it is in the pipeline, so stay tuned. But
now that you mention it, and yes, Hannah, I vividly
remember going up the famous Shuckle Mountain outside Gratz in
(31:08):
Austria with you over rocks and trees and what have you,
the most hardcore of off roading in that electric G.
And I think we mastered that quite well together. So
the G is a legend, It's an icon in our portfolio.
There is another surprise coming on Sunday in Munich at
(31:31):
the IA, we will announce the rebirth of the G
class Cavallet. So the last time we had it, I
think the last series was in twenty thirteen. You could
buy it. We had a final edition. If you had
bought one of those, and I know that Bloomberg viewers
(31:51):
are savvy business people, you would have gotten it a
little bit north of one hundred thousand dollars if you
want to buy one now used one, albeit you probably
have to pay between four and five hundred thousand. So
you see the icon status of a g caabarelet. And
we have had so many fans say, when are you
going to bring it back? When are you going to
(32:12):
bring it back? When are you going to bring it back?
Now is the time to do it, So we have
decided to kick off the development of an open top.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
G can I ask? I mean, I have so many
questions about this. I'm a big fan former owner.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I had a twenty twenty G five hundred in Berlin
that I loved. I've now turned it into a house
in Scarsdale. By the way, what kind of powertrain are
we expecting? Could this be electric and gas? Because I
think the electric powertrain really works well for the G class.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
I know you and Hannah drove it and chuckle.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I got a chance to drive it around Westchester, which
was also fantastic. And how do you deal with nvh
Like one of the best things about the G class
is that you're in an absolute vault compared to other
off road vehicles. It's just worlds of difference in terms
of the noise vibration and harshness, how do you deal
(33:07):
with the convertible.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
So on the power train, we'll keep We'll let you
guess for a little while longer. So I'm not going
to reveal that here today, but trust me, the hardcore
g fans are going to love what we're going to
do there.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
And in terms of.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
NVH, I think this is pretty amazing what has happened
on our convertibles over the year. I myself, even though
of course I get to drive a company car and
I'm thankful for it, I feel like a kid on
my birthday and Christmas on the same day. Every day
I step into, in my case, my EQS SUV, my
book I bought last year a personal car. I bought
(33:47):
an sl which is obviously a convertible, and I'm in
driving SLS and test driving and stuff like that over
the many years, so I know obviously what a convertible
feels like. And when it comes to envy, what struck
me the most, next to the incredible beauty of this
car and the performance, was that when I took it
(34:07):
for the first time on the Autubahn and I pushed
it a little bit, is how incredibly quiet it is.
And this is what I love about our engineers. You
know they never stop right. It always gets better and
better and better. So you can rest assured when we
electrify now not to electrify. When we open up the
G and make it open top, don't worry about it.
(34:31):
You're going to be able to have a conversation with
whoever sits next to you.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Okay, I gotta ask what kind of timeline are we
talking about here? If the baby G might be out
in twenty twenty seven, what are we thinking for the cabriolet?
Speaker 4 (34:46):
Not too far away?
Speaker 3 (34:49):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Let's just say that start working on selling that house, Matt.
You don't have to rush it so that you get
a good price. But it's not like it's not like
it's too far away. So wait and see.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And a follow up, is that cabriolet coming for the world?
Can we expect it'll be in all markets for Mercedes.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
In the relevant markets. Not every market in the world
is a cabriolet market, but in all the relevant markets.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
I want to ask about the SL.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
You mentioned that you bought one for yourself, and I
had the pleasure of test driving the AMG SL sixty
three S performance last week, and the power in that
thing absolutely blew me away. And it wasn't until I
was talking about it with Hannah that I actually looked
(35:40):
up the specs and saw it's more than eight hundred
horse power and more than one thousand pound feet of torque.
Then I started looking at other vehicles with those kind
of power figures.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
And it's not till I get to.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
A Lamborghini Red Welto at double the price that I
start to see those kinds of figures. After that you
have to go to Bugatti and then Kunigzag. How has
that been received? And you know, two hundred twenty five
thousand seemed like a hefty price tag until I noticed
that that power.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
Yeah, it's pretty crazy, isn't it. And if you're an
AMG fan, you're a performance fan, so you can never
have enough performance. But I think the best news is
that is a car that you can drive every day
to work. So it's not just that you have bought
a supercar with unbelievable acceleration and performance and all that.
It's a car that you can actually use every single day.
(36:31):
I think that's the unique position of AMG. You get
motorsports on the road, but on the road Monday through
Friday as well, not just for a Sunday afternoon outing.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
It's really a car.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
That you would like to drive every single day.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Our thanks Tola Kelenius for joining us. He's the chairman
of the management board and CEO of Mercedes Benz. I'm
pretty excited about driving the convertible g Wagon, the cabrio
g Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
My question is going to be like, how much of
a cage does it have on it? Is it truly
like open, open air or does that have a cage
kind of like a jeep wrangler, you know what I mean?
Or is are they truly gonna go full cabrio? No?
Speaker 2 (37:11):
I mean I imagine it'll have some kind of rollcage that
looks pretty boss when they do it right. Yeah, although
I guess did the previous did the older models just
have a full convertible top open?
Speaker 1 (37:24):
It was open? It's been done well.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
It'll be like two hundred grand, so I'm not gonna
step buying one anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
We can dream that does it. For this week's show.
Remember to follow and subscribe to Hot Pursuit on Apple, Spotify,
and anywhere else you listen. You can also send us
your comments. Please send us your comments. Email us at
Hot Pursuit at bloomberg dot net.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
And check out Hannah's columns and stories on bloomberg dot
com and the Bloomberg Business App. Go there for car reviews,
events and stories that you won't find anywhere else. Find
it all at bloomberg dot com, slash Pursuits, Slack Howdos.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott. We'll be back
in your podcast feed again. Mexican MHM
Hosts And Creators
Hannah Elliott
Matt Miller
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