Mercedes-Benz has backtracked on their plan to transition to selling only electric vehicles after 2030, with company officials saying that “market conditions” have not allowed that to happen.
It was just three years ago when the German luxury vehicle manufacturer announced that it would go “all-electric,” the Verge reported at the time.
The company said it would commit $47 billion to electrifying its fleet, with CEO and board chair Ola Källenius saying, “We are convinced, we can do it with strong profitability, and we believe that focus on electrical is the right way to build a successful future and to enhance the value of Mercedes Benz.”
Those plans were scrapped this week in the company’s fourth quarter earnings statement:
“Customers and market conditions will set the pace of the transformation. The company plans to be in a position to cater to different customer needs, whether it’s an all-electric drivetrain or an electrified combustion engine, until well into the 2030s.”
The automobile giant went on to state that its electric vehicle sales are expected to only reach a maximum of 50 percent of the overall sales in the second half of this decade.
The business model change comes after multiple highly-publicized instances of Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles catching on fire and causing massive damage.
An EQB model caught ablaze while being charged in a car showroom in Malaysia on New Year’s Eve 2023, with video footage showing the terrifying moment a portion of the building went up in flames.
The fire destroyed “about 90 percent of the car, five percent of the showroom building structure, and 20 percent of the electric vehicle charging bay” the local fire and rescue operation commander told the Star.
Earlier in the year, a new Mercedes-Benz EQE350+ electric vehicle spontaneously caught fire while parked in a Nocatee, Florida home garage, causing an estimated $1 million in damage to the house.
The car wasn’t even charging when it caught fire, Breitbart News reported.