In February, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia announced the appointment of Martin Schulz as its new CEO and president, with Schulz taking over from Amanda Zhang, who was at the helm from August 2023 until his appointment. Having had a couple of months to settle in, the media had the chance to catch up with him briefly at a recent drive event to find out more about developments regarding the brand. With the tristar celebrating its 140th anniversary this year, there’s plenty of activity lined up from the automaker, especially in terms of products, and Schulz is enthusiastic about the coming future, given that the company is launching 40 products globally over the next two to three years. “For us, it will be exciting to see which of those products is relevant for Malaysia, and then to introduce those products,” he said. Although non-committal on the exact number set to come our way, he ventured that there would be “quite a portion,” but that could also change over time. “With the framework we are operating in, we see a very dynamic market environment, but we can be very fast (with regards to defining suitable models). We are observing the situation carefully and we will take the necessary steps swiftly,” he said. The slew of future models will of course start with the all-electric C178 CLA, which was previewed here in its CLA 250+ guise in January and is set to make its market debut soon. From the global front, the all-new GLC EQ and W520 C-Class EV are items that are surely due to feature here, as are the EQS and GLE facelifts at some point. There’s even a baby G-Class coming about later this year, so that’s another possibility down the line. Closer to home, we’ll get to see the facelifted W223 S-Class make a preview appearance here very soon, and though not part of the global count, the recent introduction of the GLA Nightfall and GLC Nightfall editions finally brings the company up to speed in terms of equipment count in relation to the competition, something that the company admits has been a while coming. On the subject of electrification and the speed of take-up of its products versus its rivals, Schulz says the company is continuing to observe the market. “What we saw last year was around about 5% better (in volume), and we just saw in Q1, double the volume of that previously, so we are observing that very carefully,“ he said. “There has been a lot of learning, that’s for sure, and we understand the transition to electric very much depends on the country, so the pace of transformation is very much determined by our customers. Some markets transform at a faster pace, the most extreme being in Norway for many reasons, but also within Southeast Asia, we see that the transformation takes place at a different pace,” he said. While the brand is putting a lot of focus on PHEVs, there are still plenty of customers in the premium segment who are more attuned to petrol models rather than hybrids, so are there any plans to rework that approach. Schulz says that there always needs to be alternatives, and that a varied portfolio is the answer. “What I think is that we need to offer variety to our customers for a very long time, and for us it’s really important that we offer the customer what they want, and that includes drivetrains in all of its forms, be it ICE, plug-in hybrids or full electric. We constantly observe and adjust our product portfolio to the taste of our customers, and we will constantly optimise our products to match what people want,” he said. With the brand being one of the first companies to locally assemble EVs in Malaysia with the EQS 500, so is building EVs here still the strategy moving forward, given the soft demand so far? “Definitely, as localisation is one of our strategic pillars, but as to which model, at what point in time, will be localised, that very much depends on our customers’ demands,’ he said. “So, that is part of what I said, that when we constantly look at the product portfolio, it also means we look at what is the right product to be localised and to be very open-minded. We have a wide range in our product portfolio, and I think for Malaysia, it is on us to see what are the right products to introduce to the market,” he added. Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro. Compare prices between different insurer providers to save the most on your car insurance renewal compared to other competing services. Many payment method supported and you can pay with instalment using Atome, Grab PayLater or Shopee SPayLater. Use the promo code 'PAULTAN' when you checkout for 10% discount!