Daimler, which is the parent company of Mercedes Benz, recently announced it plans to invest upwards of US$85 billion between 2021 and 2025 to speed up its transformation towards digitization and electrification.
As reported by Electrek, Daimler revealed that it will be allocating $85 billion towards accelerating the company’s vision in competing with Tesla in the electric vehicle market. Daimler’s work council, along with the company’s Supervisory Board approved the new budget, which will be applicable between 2021 through to 2025.
During that period, Daimler is planning on spending a considerable amount of time on research and development, as well as on “property, plant, and equipment” which will all be focused towards the electrification and digitization of its lineup. The company also noted that it will be investing further into electrifying its Daimler truck division, which has already seen some progress with the eCascadia, a class 8 electric semi truck, and the eActros, which is an electric short-range urban truck.
Although Daimler has been slow to reveal its plans to bring its electric lineup to market, it is following the footsteps of Maserati, which recently unveiled that it will produce electric versions of its models within the next fiver years. Audi has also joined the race, with an investment of $12 billion towards manufacturing over 30 electrified models for its lineup, with 20 of them being fully electric.
However, in order to finance the latest investment plans, Audi noted that it will have to cut approximately 9,500 jobs at its German factories for a period of five years. On the contrary though, the electric vehicle production plans are expected to end up adding 2,000 jobs in the end. As of current, the automaker is in the midst of manufacturing an electric SUV with plans to add a sportback in the near future.
Information for this briefing was found via Electrek and Audi. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
