At the 18th Beijing International Auto Show held this year, the booth of German automotive company Mercedes Benz Group (hereinafter referred to as "Mercedes Benz") attracted a lot of attention, including 1 global debut, 7 Chinese debut and auto show debut, 8 Chinese listed full brand 21 models. China is one of the most dynamic markets in the world and an important pillar of Mercedes Benz's global strategy. Mercedes Benz has achieved exciting results in China. We have been committed to long-term investment in China, deeply participating in and assisting in the upgrading of the Chinese automotive industry Mercedes Benz Chairman Kang Linsong recently stated in an interview with our reporter. The Mercedes Benz building located in Wangjing, Beijing, witnessed and participated in the vigorous development of China's automobile industry, with bright and clean windows. Attending the China Development Forum, accompanying German Chancellor Scholz on his visit to China, participating in the Beijing International Auto Show, and announcing new investments in China with Chinese partners... "Kang Linsong told reporters that he has visited China four times this year and" there is no doubt that China is one of our most important markets. As a car company with a history of 138 years, Mercedes Benz began its localization development in China in 2001. That year, Mercedes Benz (China) Investment Co., Ltd. was officially established in Beijing. In 2003, Mercedes Benz established a long-term strategic partnership with BAIC Group. In 2005, Mercedes Benz began implementing localized research and development in China, and the E-Class executive sedan was the first to complete localization and enter mass production in China. We have witnessed and participated in the vigorous development of China's automotive industry. Mercedes Benz has achieved great success in China, not only in sales and production, but also in research and development, supply chain partners, technology cooperation, and other aspects Kang Linsong introduced that from 2014 to 2023, Mercedes Benz, together with its partners, invested over 100 billion yuan in China. Entering the final assembly workshop of Beijing Benz Automotive Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Beijing Benz") Shunyi factory, two robotic arms on the production line are busy. The robotic arm is equipped with a camera, which is equivalent to an "artificial intelligence visual inspection robot". It can take comprehensive photos and quality inspections of car chassis details, with an efficiency more than twice that of manual labor. Nearly 1200 robots in the car body workshop perform their respective duties, with an automation rate of over 98%. The data collected by different robots is uploaded to the cloud through the factory's "neural network" to help workers make judgments and decisions. With this digital production system, Beijing Benz has become the largest production base in the global passenger car production network of Mercedes Benz, with one new car being produced in just 45 seconds. One out of every two Mercedes Benz E-Class cars sold globally is produced here. At the beginning of its establishment in 2005, Beijing Benz's planned annual production was only 25000 vehicles Tang Shikai, a member of the board of directors of Mercedes Benz Group who has been working in China for 12 years and is responsible for the Greater China region, said that in March this year, the 5 millionth domestically produced Mercedes Benz car was successfully produced. The cumulative production increased from 4 million vehicles to 5 million vehicles, and Beijing Benz only took 20 months, "said Tang Shikai. Beijing Benz has now become a joint venture enterprise that owns three major vehicle platforms: front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, and electric vehicles, as well as engine and power battery factories. It has also achieved the export of core engine components and complete machines, and is an important part of Mercedes Benz's global production network Kang Linsong stated that China has a complete automotive industry chain, leading partners, high-quality talent resources, and innovative support policies and measures. Mercedes Benz continues to have a positive outlook on the Chinese market. This provides a guarantee for the development of enterprises in China, and thanks to the favorable business environment in China, Mercedes Benz's business in China has made significant progress, "said Kang Linsong. In the past few years, the Chinese automobile market has maintained continuous growth, and Mercedes Benz is one of the main participants, which is also why we are optimistic about and value the Chinese market Tang Shikai said. In 2023, Mercedes Benz passenger cars will account for over one-third of its global sales in the Chinese market, and sales of pure electric vehicles will more than double. As the largest single market of Mercedes Benz in the world, China's market demand in automatic driving, automotive software, intelligent interconnection and other fields is rapidly upgrading. "Promote local innovation with 'Chinese speed' and lead global innovation" came to Keqiao Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, and walked into the new building of Mercedes Benz Shanghai R&D Center, which was just opened in April this year. Software and hardware development and full environment simulation in the fields of electric travel, intelligent interconnection, automatic driving, etc. are being carried out here. In 2021, Mercedes Benz China R&D Technology Center was put into use in Beijing; Mercedes Benz Shanghai R&D Center will be established in 2022; Mercedes Benz (Shanghai) Digital Technology Co., Ltd. will be established in 2023; In 2024, the new building of Mercedes Benz Shanghai R&D Center will be completed and put into use. Over the past five years, Mercedes Benz has invested a total of 10.5 billion yuan in research and development in China, with a local R&D team of over 2000 people. We have built the most comprehensive R&D team outside of Germany in China, and the Chinese digital R&D team is the fastest growing team in the world, "said Tang Shikai. Thanks to China's well-developed industrial and supply chains, talent reserves, and excellent research and development environment, Mercedes Benz has made rapid progress in research and development in China. In just one year, the L2+intelligent assisted driving system led by Mercedes Benz China's R&D team has achieved point-to-point navigation assisted driving on highways and urban expressways across China, enhancing Mercedes Benz's capabilities in the global intelligent driving field. In the future, the new plug-in hybrid battery customized by Mercedes Benz and its partners will be used in Mercedes Benz's plug-in hybrid models sold worldwide. At present, the Chinese R&D team is leading the development of intelligent cockpit and autonomous driving functions, and through close collaboration with R&D centers around the world, will contribute more of the R&D achievements made in China to the global market, "said Tang Shikai. China has abundant excellent talent resources and rapidly developing technology enterprises, which give us the opportunity to develop a talent and innovation ecosystem here Tang Shikai said, "Chinese R&D teams are playing a leading role in an increasing number of global R&D projects." In recent years, Mercedes Benz has actively seized opportunities for industrial transformation and continuously expanded innovative cooperation with local Chinese partners in the fields of intelligent connected vehicles and new energy vehicles. The voice interaction software developed by Mercedes Benz in collaboration with Chinese technology company Sibichi incorporates customized design technology and has been used for global product development. At present, Mercedes Benz is exploring and collaborating with Chinese technology companies such as Tencent and Volcano Engine in cutting-edge fields such as cloud computing, big models, and artificial intelligence, bringing better, more convenient, and personalized digital experiences to Chinese consumers. The cooperation between Tsinghua University and Mercedes Benz has been over 10 years, and the "Tsinghua University Mercedes Benz Joint Research Institute for Sustainable Transportation" (hereinafter referred to as the "Joint Research Institute") has been established to cooperate in the fields of intelligent transportation, green energy, localized applications, intelligent vehicles, and sustainable development. Zeng Rong, Vice President of Tsinghua University, stated that both sides have achieved fruitful results in project research and development, talent cultivation, and undergraduate practice base construction. "Our cooperation with Mercedes Benz has become one of the models of school enterprise cooperation. By integrating Mercedes Benz's research and development capabilities with Tsinghua University's scientific research and innovation strength, the research institute will explore new models of international education and teaching, and contribute to the development of sustainable transportation." Li Meng, a long-term professor and dean of the Joint Research Institute at Tsinghua University, said that the industry university research cooperation with Mercedes Benz enables the research results of universities to better integrate with rich industrial needs. China is not only one of the main engines of global economic growth, but also driving the acceleration of innovation and transformation in the global automotive industry. The "China speed" is used to promote local innovation and lead global innovation, which demonstrates our confidence in the Chinese market and Mercedes Benz's determination to work with Chinese partners to speed up the localization process. " Tang Shikai said. Joining hands with Chinese partners to share long-term development opportunities, shutting down unnecessary equipment during non production time can save about 32600 kilowatt hours of electricity and reduce natural gas consumption by about 6080 cubic meters per day; By intelligently controlling the switch of the air handling unit through the production calendar, finely managing the operation time of the unit, and saving more than 16000 kilowatt hours of electricity per day... It is reported that Beijing Benz is one of the first enterprises in Beijing to apply for green electricity. Meanwhile, by continuously expanding the scale of photovoltaic power generation, Beijing Benz has acquired one of the largest photovoltaic projects in the global production network of Mercedes Benz. At Mercedes Benz Beijing, environmental technologies and facilities such as zero carbon technology laboratory buildings, rooftop photovoltaics, molten salt heat storage, and carbon dioxide heat pumps are being applied. Kang Linsong stated that Mercedes Benz's goal is to achieve net carbon neutrality throughout the entire value chain by 2039, which is consistent with China's vision of advancing its "dual carbon" goals. We are pleased that our green initiatives have been widely welcomed and supported across China, "said Kang Linsong. In September this year, Mercedes Benz announced plans to invest over 10 billion yuan and 4 billion yuan respectively in passenger cars and light commercial vehicles with Chinese partners, further enriching China's "smart manufacturing" product lineup. As the world's largest automobile market and new energy vehicle market, China's automobile production and sales have ranked first in the world for 15 consecutive years. China is not only the world's largest automobile market, but also one of the most dynamic markets, especially in terms of innovation speed, new energy vehicles, and intelligent transformation. China is leading the rapid development of the global automobile industry, "Kang Linsong said." Investing in China is investing in the future, which is our natural choice. "" In recent years, China has continued to promote high-level opening up to the outside world, which has greatly enhanced market confidence. China's huge achievements in the economic field prove that an open market can bring huge benefits to the economy and people's lives. "Kang Linsong said that China is a major automobile industry country, and an open market provides opportunities for global car companies including Mercedes Benz to deeply participate in market competition. According to statistics from the German central bank, Germany's investment in China reached a historic high of 7.3 billion euros in the first half of 2024. Mercedes Benz Group's Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Bo Mule, stated that both Europe and China, as well as Germany and China, have a long-standing tradition of good cooperation. China's industrial advantages and development speed not only provide important support for Mercedes Benz's expansion in the Chinese market, but also bring significant opportunities for its global operations. "The world needs China, and China needs the world," said Bo Bule. Kang Linsong said, "Mercedes Benz will continue to uphold the original intention of 'developing in China and advancing with China', and work together with Chinese partners to share long-term development opportunities