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byd and mercedes-benz broke up. byd subscribed to the last 10% of mercedes-benz's shares and directly turned denza into a completely independent brand.

many people don't realize why byd and mercedes-benz do this. after all, both are now in their heyday, byd is the first new energy vehicle company, and mercedes-benz is the first luxury brand, and neither of them is short of money.

moreover, the two have been working together for more than ten years and have been through hard times, so why did they break up? i would like to share some of my personal views with you.

(1) in the past 14 years, the company has undergone three changes

denza is a brand founded in 2010 and is also the first joint venture brand of new energy vehicles in china. the core reason for setting up this game at that time was that mercedes-benz wanted to counter bmw's electrification strategy, so it brought in byd, a company with good accumulation in the field of electrification.

in the early days, the denza was completely dominated by mercedes-benz. it can be seen that mercedes-benz defined the product, while byd injected the core three-electric technology. mercedes-benz was responsible for "taking orders" and byd was responsible for "cooking".

to be honest, this did inject luxury genes into the denza. at least in terms of design, the difference between the denza and other domestic cars is quite obvious. however, due to the limited acceptance of new energy vehicles in china at that time, the denza did not become popular.

after 2018, the denza market changed and became jointly dominated by mercedes-benz and byd. the cars produced during this period, such as the denza x, really rushed to the forefront of the market in terms of technology.

but overall, the result of the joint decision by the two companies still seems not good enough. it is comprehensive but not personalized, and has not caused much market ripples.

later, byd increased its stake to 90% and mercedes-benz 10%. at this time, byd basically had the final say. after 2022, denza will be reshaped and the entire product line will be completely renewed.

the first model after the renewal was the byd d9, which quickly gained a foothold thanks to the advantages of the dm-i system that can run on both oil and electricity, as well as byd's accumulated luxury reputation over the years, and the fact that high-end new energy mpvs are very scarce in the market.

throughout 2023, byd denza d9 sold 118,595 units, a height never achieved by any domestically produced mpv before.

but the subsequent n7 did not continue the glory of d9. in the extremely competitive market with a price range of over 300,000 yuan, the byd n7 did not show a superior voice.

this is also the reason why byd is eager to seek change. to put it bluntly, the denza brand is still a "traditional" luxury brand, which means that its product definition also follows the traditional "routine".

in this case, byd's advantage cannot be maximized. just like the denza n7, almost everyone who has tried it says it is a luxury car, with good texture and solid tuning. the previously criticized intelligent driving also performed very well after several otas.

but it is very difficult to pass all these advantages to consumers. with a price of over 300,000 yuan, how many cars are not strong?

(2) byd’s ultimate magic weapon: self-developed methodology

in august, byd sold 373,000 vehicles, which is the annual sales volume of a medium-sized automaker, and is truly far ahead. this data is still rising, after all, august is just the off-season for auto sales.

there are many reasons why byd can be so outstanding, such as people's acceptance of domestic cars has increased, and the design of the new generation of models is also high-end and classy. but the core is still the product plus price.

byd's prices are indeed low, basically the same as those new forces that "lose money to gain publicity", but it has stable quality and after-sales support.

from time to time, some black technology is exposed, such as reducing the fuel consumption of a+ class hybrid sedans to less than 3l/100km. the key is that byd's maintenance price is very low, and the later cost is basically the lowest in the market.

this is the most powerful thing about byd, it allows consumers to make a "brainless choice". they are satisfied when they buy it, and there is no risk in using the car later.

why can byd do this? the core reason is its unrivaled self-development capability. byd is the first automaker to develop three-electric technology for new energy vehicles, and its blade battery has opened up a new era of lithium iron phosphate batteries.

investing in lithium mines upstream, deploying three-electric systems and other electric intelligent components in the midstream, and expanding into areas such as igbt downstream, byd does not have to worry about being "choked" at all.

this is also the key to byd's ability to hold high the banner of "the same price for oil and electricity" and "lower electricity than oil". its strong self-research capability ensures excellent cost control. then, it spreads the cost through scale advantages and further invests in research and development.

therefore, byd has many trump cards, including the fifth-generation dm super hybrid technology, ctb battery-body integration technology, yi sanfang technology, yi sifang technology, yunnian intelligent body control system, etc. these are all the first-line new energy vehicle technologies on the market. this is also byd's first magic weapon for success.

(3) is there a chance for luxury and technology to become a reality?

applying byd's first magic weapon to luxury brands is what denza is trying to do now, breaking away from the "routines" of traditional luxury brands and redefining new rules.

this has been proven by the leopard 5. as the top cross-country model in its class, the leopard 5’s performance in the 300,000-yuan class is not outstanding. although it can run on both gasoline and electricity, and has intelligent configurations far exceeding its peers, it still cannot escape the situation of “being well-received but not popular”.

after the new price was adopted, the sales of leopard 5 rebounded immediately, reaching 4,876 units in august, a 165% increase compared to july. moreover, this huge increase in delivery volume was achieved despite the shortage of vehicles on hand, which was indeed an immediate result.

the key is that with a strong system to support it, byd can ensure that the leopard 5 is profitable even if it is sold for 250,000 yuan, which is something other brands cannot compare to.

today, the denza has also embarked on this path, that is, to do what its competitors in the same class cannot do. the denza z9 gt was originally positioned at the 500,000 level, and it not only has a very high appearance, but also has excellent tuning and powerful performance.

this is the only model in its class that uses three motors, which not only gives the new car 1,000 horsepower and 3-second acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour, but more importantly, the decoupling of the rear-wheel dual motors allows the new car to have a turning radius of 4.62 meters and a moose test result of 93.6km/h.

these are byd's unique black technologies, which can significantly improve the driving experience. however, in terms of price, the pre-sale price of the denza z9 gt is still only 339,800 yuan.

this is the embodiment of byd's core advantage, and of course it also means completely breaking away from the traditional definition of luxury. this is also the core reason why mercedes-benz and byd finally parted ways. byd needs to make decisions more independently, and mercedes-benz needs to maintain the advantages of its own system.

the two companies, which had cooperated for 14 years, eventually became strangers.

(4) kung fu clap

it's not that denza is not good enough, but mercedes-benz already has its own electrification strategy. in 2025, mercedes-benz will launch three pure electric vehicle architecture platforms, namely van.ea (pure electric mpv and light commercial vehicle platform), mb.ea (medium and large passenger car platform), and amg.ea (performance electric vehicle exclusive platform). for this purpose, mercedes-benz also acquired the british motor company yasa and invested in farasis energy, all in order to maintain strategic initiative.

in this situation, mercedes-benz hopes to replicate its success in the fuel era to the new energy era, and byd is trying to change the rules of the game in the luxury car market. the eventual separation of the two is an inevitable result.

a new round of confrontation may begin in 2025. who will be the winner?