IAA 2019: Daimler's Discreet Opening

Under the headline "Customer Experience 4.0," Daimler's head of passenger cars opened the IAA and spoke only about the customer, who currently seems to be in as much of a transformation as the industry. At least, that was the impression left by her speech because: by 2025, 25 percent of all Mercedes-Benz passenger cars are to be sold online. Only 25 percent? Yes, because the customer still wants a dealership where they can speak from person to person for such an expensive product.

Or not. On the other hand, as the used car business shows, customers are willing to order their vehicle online, but it just has to be a bit easier. This desire is being met, for example, with the new Smarts, which can be configured easier than ever: choose basic model, add package, select color - done.

And because 90 percent of customers use the offered Mercedes-me app or at least sign up for it, they are expanding the countless services that all have to do with mobility. By the end of the year, there will be yet another more extensive version.

In sales, they are currently caught a bit between two stools, which also applies to the model program: it ranges from the purely electric Smarts (which unfortunately only received an optical update but no range update) to the Mercedes-Maybach S 650 Pullman, which is intended for affluent (judging by the interest, predominantly Asian) customers and continues to indulge in the V12 combustion engine. In between, there are now all the variations that King Customer desires.

Interesting is what one hears between the lines from insiders: Namely, that this broad diversification on the stock exchange is no longer being honored and that SUVs, which customers now all want, should not be sold. Here too, the aspirations and reality of all parties involved (customers, politics, environmental organizations) diverge dramatically.

In this respect, this year's IAA might become the most exciting one ever despite the absence of many manufacturers. Because the "Customer Experience 4.0" could be the most diverse and demanding ever – and it will only become clearer by the end of this IAA what exactly the customer wants and what not in the "Version 4.0".

What does that mean?

The current political and social circumstances clearly indicate that we need to rethink: Wanting and demanding everything like a toddler is one thing, but it will not be fulfilled because even the power of capitalism (and the power of industry) has its limits. And it could also be the job of the automotive industry CEOs from 2020 on to clearly state which wishes of the "customer child" can be fulfilled in view of the climate goals and which cannot. Because one wish that manufacturers, despite all technical sophistication, cannot fulfill: outsmarting physics. Big and heavy simply consumes more.