Mercedes-Benz exits luxury EV joint venture with BYD, Chinese OEM takes control
Mercedes-Benz has called it quit from its Chinese electric vehicle joint venture with BYD, the German luxury car brand has said Tuesday. Mercedes-Benz has sold the remaining 10 per cent stake it had held after unloading the bulk of its stake of the joint venture back in 2021. With this move, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD has taken the full control of the venture. However, none of the two automobile giants have revealed the value of the deal.
Under this joint venture, Mercedes-Benz and BYD were developing and manufacturing luxury electric cars under the Denza brand, which is now wholly owned by the Chinese auto major. Mercedes-Benz has stated that its technology has not been incorporated into the current Denza cars.
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This move ends a 13-year partnership between Mercedes-Benz and BYD. Denza was established by the two automakers as a joint venture in 2011, with each OEMs holding a 50 per cent stake in the JV. The joint venture company was incorporated as Shenzhen BYD New Energy Co. It focused on manufacturing premium electric cars but lacklustre sales numbers forced Mercedes-Benz to reduce its stake in the venture to 10 per cent in 2021 and now, the company sold the remaining share too.
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Denza is now working on its Z9GT model, which is slated to launch later this week with a sticker price of $47,900. Also, the company has found slight popularity with the D9 minivan, which ranked as the bestseller in its category in China in 2023.
Mercedes-Benz's move comes at a tough time
This move from Mercedes-Benz comes at a time when an increasing number of global automakers are dialling back their exposure to the world's biggest automobile market. Also, this move comes at a time when made-in-China electric cars are being slapped with steep tariffs across the world. European Union has already proposed a high tariff on made-in-China electric cars amounting to 36.3 per cent, while Canada also slapped 100 per cent import duty on Chinese EVs. These moves have heightened trade tensions between China and European countries.
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