International Company Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz AG is a multinational corporation known for the world-wide business of cars and vans. The company focuses on the development, production, and sales of cars, vans, and services. The current Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz AG is Ola Kallenius. The Mercedes-Benz company also aspires to be the leader in fields of automated and alternative driving.

They have a product portfolio made up of sub-brands; Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-May Bach, and Mercedes-Me. The company also works on a smart brand and the product and technology for electric mobility.

The sustainability of Mercedes-Benz is based on their business strategy of taking responsibility for all economic, ecological, and social effects of its business activities (Benz AG, 2019).

The Mercedes-Benz company was started in 1926, when Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler put together their auto making companies and began producing and selling the Mercedes-Benz products. Regardless of that, Benz was first to market their cars all on his own when he invented the first automobile that ran on gasoline, the Benz Patent Motor wagon, in 1901.

The research question that this paper will be based on is “What would be the most useful promotional tools that Mercedes-Benz could use to increase its sale of electric cars in the market of Norway?” Norway in particular was chosen, because researches show that it has the highest electric vehicle ownership per capita (Chappell, 2019). Mercedes-Benz features one of the most unique marketing mixes in the business. Ranging from their product strategy to their pricing strategy to promotional techniques to place and distribution.

Top Writers

Karrie

Verified writer

5 (339)

Prof. Laser

Verified writer

4.8 (435)

Belle

Verified writer

4.7 (657)

hire verified writer

One of their most prominent advantages would be their products. They have a product portfolio of luxury cars consisting of SUVs, sedans, and sport cars. Their cars not only feature quality and design, but also the best technology in the market. Mercedes-Benz’s pricing strategy uses premium pricing, or keeping prices high to encourage the perception of high quality and luxury. This strategy is not considered a disadvantage to the company as they cater for a niche class of people that value quality over price.

Their prices range from $30,000 to $100,000 and maybe even more. Mercedes-Benz also caters to a large numbers of countries around the world. It has dealership and service station everywhere, but their most important markets are China, Germany, and the US. The company’s promotional techniques vary greatly from those known around the market. They use all media channels, like TV and radio.

And have been enhancing their social media presence and online marketing. They also build brand awareness by organizing activities for customers to come drive their cars. For example, International Driving Platform, and they also hold the Mercedes Trophy, which is an amateur golf tournament for golfers around the world to compete and gain awareness of Mercedes’ new products (Zigu) In order to analyze a company, one needs to look at that company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Mercedes-Benz’s SWOT analysis in relation to the research question would differ slightly than normal.

The strengths would the company’s internal advantages and they are having accessible infrastructure security, efficiency of electricity supply, a strong and competing product portfolio. Their worldwide manufacturing, high consumer satisfaction, and highly skilled work force also contribute to strengthening the business. Like anything in this world having positives and negatives, Mercedes-Benz also suffers of weaknesses like, expensive after sales maintenance, high vehicle recalls, and high production cost (Bhasin & Rohan, 2019).

Moreover, there are opportunities in Norway for Mercedes-Benz to focus their sales on electric cars there as there was a goal set by the Norwegian parliament that by the year 2025 all cars sold in the country should be zero emissions. Another opportunity for Mercedes could be the fact that in the month of March in the year 2019 the sales of electric cars made up about 60%, and that is supported by the fact that Norway is the current leader in battery electric vehicle sales (Chappell, 2019). Unfortunately, when opportunities comes, threats string along.

Electric car owners starting to worry about the long-term effects of their investment is such car could be harmful to Mercedes’ electric car sales. Another threat could be that generally electric cars have a short driving range and speed. There has also been word that Norwegian’s attachment to these electric cars may be gone sooner than expected, as incentives will be withdrawn or reconsidered (Vidal, 2014)

. Another analysis tool is looking at the market’s external factors that may affect one’s business idea or sales positively or negatively. First factor is the political factor and it is that Norway has a peaceful political environment and tries to ensure the safety and comfort of its people, which gives Mercedes the chance to enter its market with no trouble and less turmoil around clearances, licenses, and permits.

The following factor would the economic factor and that would be that Norway’s mixed economy gives people a stronger welfare system and a high cost of living compared to other countries, which coincides with Mercedes-Benz’s luxurious cars with high prices. The third factor is the social, which is that Norway’s living and working conditions are fairly high allowing people to have more space for luxury.

They are also quite progressive as a society, which would give place for Mercedes to introduce their diverse portfolio of cars and electric cars. The final factor would be the technological sector in Norway and that division is growing rapidly and becoming one of the leading industries in the word and that gives them more knowledge on the importance of electric cars to the environment, which gives Mercedes more of an advantage (Farooq, 2020) In brief, after analyzing the market through the use of Mercedes' marketing, SWOT Analysis, and its PEST Analysis I recommend that Norway is a safe market and would be very open for more interference from Mercedes-Benz.

As a country, Norway is already greatly exposed to electric cars and are enjoying them greatly, but few automotive companies manufacture them. And the less the competitors the higher the sales for Mercedes-Benz would be. The company can promote their electric cars in Norway by hiring influencers or celebrities to post content about their product.

They can also start an advertising campaign to bring awareness to the environmental advantages of electric cars. These promotional techniques would be of great help in increasing Mercedes-Benz's sale numbers of electric cars in the Norwegian market.