It was 1973, the year when Mercedes-Benz Italy is officially born. Those who are a few years older may turn their noses at this date, because Mercedes were already circulating in our country and were the dream of those lucky ones who managed to cross them. Well, yes, lucky, because before the founding of MBI, 10,000 cars were sold per year through an official and exclusive importer: Autostar.
However, on April 18, 1973, the situation changed and the Germans (75%) and Autostar (25%) created this local reality, but closely associated with Germany, a country that until today has always liked to wear boots on holidays, but which also supports very close commercial relations in the automotive world for the supply of components.
When I look at the ad that Mercedes chose to present during the 50th anniversary event, I’m immediately struck by the one that has words like “we use (almost) solvent-free paint and recycled materials”.
Today, every car manufacturer boasts about how much they managed to recycle or how much renewable energy they used for production, but when you hear it in advertising before the 90s, you will understand that Mercedes, whether you love it or hate it, has always been objectively superior. And not only from a technical point of view.
Thanks to Mercedes (in part, I told you about it here) we have important safety technologies that today we take for granted even in small cars, and for better or worse, the Germans have always been focused on being innovators, being bold.
They also dared to enter the world of commercial vehicles by acquiring Hanomag-Henschel, founded in 1969 and then merged with the Daimler Group to develop a parallel business that also made commercial and passenger vehicles attractive for decades. home maker in an important way.
It was Piero Bocanelli, the first president of Mercedes Italia, who appointed Hans Breithaupt as the first CEO, and it was in those years that concepts were born that had hardly existed before.
L’after sale, “after-sales service”, was considered a necessary evil in those years. However, today it attracts much more investment and is one of the pillars of the automotive industry. The dealers were distributors only concerned with selling new: Mercedes made them agree to having a workshop “at home”, another concept we take for granted today.
Through this forcing and a huge investment in training technicians for a network of authorized workshops under the leadership of Benito De Filippis, an ecosystem was created that laid the foundations for better customer service, increased perception of brand support and a parallel and sustainable business. Marketing terms, including the famous “customer satisfaction”, began to sprout.
The oil crisis of the 1970s, pedestrian Sundays and the 120 km/h speed limit on motorways, not to mention the 35% VAT on cars over two liters, were a serious blow to the luxury brand. turns into a tractor factory.
Mercedes, however, managed to survive, and while thinking about the 190 to come later in 1982, it got caught up in another tornado, the diesel boom.
A small section in this story should definitely be devoted to the progenitor of the Mercedes C-Class – the Mercedes 190. In 2022, the car celebrated its 40th anniversary, as it was introduced in December 1982. Created to modernize the image of classic German luxury, 190 it was aimed at a younger audience, not necessarily young at birth, but with a more modern mentality.
They called it Baby Benz, and it was the daughter of that oil crisis that led to the creation of a more compact and economical car, while maintaining the quality of the older sisters’ construction and the elegance of the lines. This car then made Bremen’s fortune because the plant received an injection of liquidity that made it one of the best in the world, still at the forefront in terms of automation.
In addition to several standout features, including a rear multi-link coupled with a redesigned front McPherson, the Mercedes 190 has also focused on performance and versatility.
Born with a 90 hp 2.0 four-cylinder engine. (carburetor), over time it received direct injection (122 hp from 2.0), and in 1983 it debuted in a diesel version, at that time naturally aspirated with 72 hp. And who did he want to run for? 190 E 2.3 was the dream of many and produced at least 185 hp, which in those years was enough to set several records on the Nardo circuit. AMG then converted the 195 hp version (190 E 2.5, 16 valves) into a racing car for the DTM.
Incident closed, back to history. As we’ve seen, once the foundations are in place, it’s time for the product. In the late eighties and throughout the nineties, Mercedes planned an offensive in Italy with a great difference from the past.
From a tech-only design, with no market research and no marketing support, we moved to a more holistic process where the customer became more important and we started trying to understand their needs. When that wasn’t enough, the need was created by harnessing the power of marketing, something typical of the capitalist West and certainly not invented by Mercedes, and not even limited to a car product.
Financing, corporate fleet, fittings, advertising, market segmentation: these are some of the common threads that connect the fixed point that cannot be missed – the product.
These were the years when a peak of 80,000 units per year was reached (1999) compared to 40,000 in 1989. And the key models were the CLK and SLK with KOMPRESSOR, Classe A, ML and the legendary smart.
The dynamics of the relationship between Mercedes and the dealers is changing (margin goes from fixed to variable by increasing the cap) and communication is changing. Now we focus on a certain circle of users, the purpose of this particular model.
Thus, class A shows in advertising a timid approach to this process, which began decades earlier and continues to this day, which would eventually lead women to a more central role in society. Marketing used an important message and it worked. Of course, there were inconveniences of the Moose test, but even in this case, Mercedes managed to cope with the situation by admitting guilt, putting a piece into it (ESP on a compact, something unimaginable at that time) and then ironically what happened in subsequent commercials.
These are the years of premium vans, the Vito and Classe V appear, and two other important phenomena. First, a smart, compact car favored by very few countries, and among them was (and is) Italy. It was the first two-tone “small” and is now offered on almost every subcompact. It was the first compact with a glass roof, it was turbocharged, it was automatic: innovative and able to anticipate the rest of the market by years.
Another great phenomenon that Mercedes takes pride in at every opportunity is represented by the Mercedes ML, the SUV that made SUVs a mainstream phenomenon because they existed before but were a niche.
Without competition, marketing can be seen as a worthless investment. But even a tech giant like Mercedes, sooner or later, has to deal with adversaries who catch up and go into battle. In fact, the 2000s were fertile ground for sales, but also for a variety of product offensives, with many brands vying for customer favor.
As such, Mercedes is focusing on visibility by investing in sport, culture, territory and motorsport. It taps into values and passions (fitness, jewelry, fashion, etc.) and revolutionizes the sector even more by refining concepts previously reserved for the business world. Leasing and renting is now becoming more accessible and for individuals, the concept of “returnable after 3 years” is being born. Today we hear it everywhere, but it was Mercedes that made it massive …
Even in the past few decades, there have been challenges, from the crisis in the financial markets to the dieselgate scandal originating somewhere else, with inevitable consequences for all brands. Mercedes first adopted a strategy dedicated to versatility, using multiple engines to let the buyer choose whether to stay diesel (here also a plug-in hybrid, one of the best in terms of autonomy) or focus on electrification.
A little uncertain products were born in their identity, it’s true: EQA, EQB, and EQC actually paid the price of being children of a common platform rather than being exclusively for battery-powered vehicles. Howeverwhen the political and normative context finally gave a clear signal, Mercedes immediately demonstrated that it could play among the greats in the electric power industry.with a decisive turn that materialized in the superb Mercedes EQE, electric, finally mature and with important autonomy, as seen from road tests.
By 2030, it is planned to sell only electric vehicles (where conditions exist), and by 2039, all cars in all parts of the value chain (including deliveries) will be carbon neutral.
With the handover of Radek Jelinek to Mark Langenbrink, who becomes president of Mercedes in Italy, the brand is now gearing up for the next challenges of mass electrification and software: the Germans are close to launching MB.OS, proving they know how to change and evolve and, in contrast, from others, still stand out. While several brands have chosen to support technology companies (a case in point, the Volvo-Polestar group, which relied on Google to develop an on-board OS), Mercedes has made the audacious choice by developing a dedicated operating system, creating a dedicated division… and in this we should at least wish them “good luck” as well as best wishes for the important anniversary of the brand’s Italian history.
Source: HD Motori
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.