Latest / Auto Collabs / Inside Mercedes-Benz’s Biggest Product Push Ever with North American CEO Jason Hoff | The Merge 2025

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Inside Mercedes-Benz’s Biggest Product Push Ever with North American CEO Jason Hoff | The Merge 2025 · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  This episode of Auto Collabs was recorded live at The Merge 2025, hosted by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. This is Auto Collabs. All right, we're here at the Alliance for Automotive Innovations Merge event.
• 0:11
  We have Jochen Hoff, CEO of Mercedes-Benz North America. Thank you so much for giving us a few minutes today. Yeah, appreciate it.
• 0:17
  Uh, you took the stage earlier, and you shared, uh, quite a few things about, um, electrification, future powertrains, how many vehicles are going- Mm... to be released in the next several years.
• 0:26
  Um, I think this is the kind of information that dealers wanna hear. Um, we were speaking about our dealers being a big part of the audience.
• 0:33
  So I would love for you to share, you know, some of those things and what you're working on, and what you see on the roadmap here. Yeah.
• 0:39
  No, thank you for the opportunity also, uh, to talk a little bit about, you know, our plans and what we have in store.
• 0:45
  Yeah, we- we're at a great point actually for Mercedes-Benz because, uh, as I mentioned earlier this morning, we've got over 40 models, or 40 models, r- really right on 40 models, that are gonna get launched over the next three years.
• 0:57
  Wow. Uh, and that's, uh, the biggest, let's say, portfolio change or launch of vehicles that, that we've had in the history of Mercedes-Benz. Wow.
• 1:06
  Uh, and I think it really underlines, you know, what we're doing in terms of investing in our products, investing in our technology, um, understanding that customers want BEV, they want ICE, um, and you know, we're gonna meet them on both sides.
• 1:20
  Uh, and you know, customers, the brand-new CLA that comes out, uh, the- starting this year, we'll deliver our first cars in the next, uh, few weeks, uh, will, uh, be an electric car first, but then there's be a gas version.
• 1:32
  We've got a GLC that we showed in Munich in, um, August, September, um, at the auto show in Europe, and, uh, that's, you know, electric GLC to be coupled now with our already on the market, uh, ICE GLC.
• 1:46
  And I think that's just a little flavor of what's to come over the next three years, uh, as it relates to, to a product launch. So i- it's exciting for us. I think it also shows our commitment.
• 1:56
  And what you're also gonna see over the next coming, um, years is a very strong focus on the US market. Um, we know and we have been able to prosper in the US, uh, for many years.
• 2:09
  Um, but we also know the US customers have certain desires, wishes, interests. Um, and we're gonna continue to work on the development of our vehicles to meet those desires and interests of the US customer.
• 2:23
  Uh, so we're gonna continue to tweak, do things really geared towards the US market, um, and our local production in Tuscaloosa and our vans out of Charleston- Yeah...
• 2:31
  really help us to be able to cater to those needs here in the US.
• 2:35
  You know, uh, in the age of software-defined vehicles, Mercedes-Benz has always been on the cutting edge of not just the onscreen, but also in-vehicle technologies.
• 2:44
  And, uh, one of the things that you spoke about was the new operating system that is gonna be delivered in- Mm-hmm... in some coming vehicles.
• 2:51
  Can you talk about how the software devi- defined vehicle is developing and changing, uh, for the brand? Yeah. It's, it's revolutionizing a lot of what people expect and see in cars.
• 3:01
  Um, you know, the Mercedes-Benz operating system is now our underlying operating system in all the vehicles we're launching. Uh, starting with the CLA is our next level of, of operating system.
• 3:12
  Uh, it also has the big screen across where you can, you know, basically- Mm-hmm. Pretty impressive... see the passenger side in the middle.
• 3:18
  Um, obviously, y- you know, your standard information, you know, in the instrument cluster side of things, um, available to do updates over the air like people expect now in what was- Sure...
• 3:29
  let's say three or four years ago, kind of a revolutionary idea that only Tesla and a c- few others did. Customers expect that now. Right.
• 3:36
  You know, they, they want to be able to, uh, say, "Hey, yeah, I got the latest level of software," or maybe it's even a bug fix or something that was- Mm-hmm... sent out. Um, but I don't have to go to the dealer.
• 3:45
  I just get it automatically over the air.
• 3:47
  So, you know, those are the kind of the underlying pieces of that, obviously, with a performance that you would expect out of a Mercedes-Benz, um, you know, in terms of speed, in terms of capability, options, uh, that you have in the vehicle.
• 4:00
  Um, so yeah, we're, we're very excited about that and, uh, really believe that's gonna be a game changer for us going forward. Final, final thought. We're almost, uh, out of time here.
• 4:09
  W- what are you gonna say, uh, to the dealers that they should be focused on for the next 12 to 24 months as they, uh, face Mercedes-Benz customers day in and day out, and they handle them through the process and- Mm-hmm...
• 4:20
  and through the experience? What would you like to encourage them with? Well, we just finished actually our, our big dealer meeting a week and a half ago, uh, in Las Vegas.
• 4:27
  Um, and, uh, we rolled out a plan, uh, that was very focused on, we wanna grow our sales. Mm-hmm.
• 4:33
  Uh, I think everybody, uh, recognizes, um, that, uh, that's a, that's, let's say a quarter point- Everybody can get excited about that. Yeah. Yeah. [laughs] Everyone's very excited about that.
• 4:41
  The, the, the dealers very much like the thoughts, but they also saw that, you know, we're bringing products with it. We're bringing plans in terms of how we want to conquest and grow.
• 4:50
  It's not just throwing a number out there and saying, "Okay, we wanna grow." Mm-hmm. Um, that there are clear plans behind that.
• 4:55
  And, uh, that was what we were trying to do, get our dealers motivated, understand that, uh, you know, we are here to stay. We are investing in the US. Um, we're gonna continue to gear our products to the US customers.
• 5:08
  Um, and we know that we know our niche here in the US. We are a premium brand. You know, customers yearn, desire to get a Mercedes. Sure.
• 5:16
  And then they get in the first one, then they wanna step up to the next one and to the next one.
• 5:19
  And that's why we have products like the S-Class that people, you know, recognize, "Hey, when I get up to the S-Class, I've made it." Yes. "That's my pinnacle." Right. Yeah.
• 5:26
  Um, you know, and that's, you know, that's what our brand's abrou- about, and that's what we're excited about in the future.
• 5:32
  Well, thank you so much for a bit of your time, and thanks for encouraging the dealers, but also, uh, continuing to push for innovation, uh, with- Absolutely. Great. Thanks for taking me and, uh, uh, having me here.
• 5:41
  Thank you.