Mercedes reports upcoming models, new dealer support model

Mercedes-Benz has significant fresh models coming to showrooms this year, it told dealers at the make meeting — a meeting in which some lamented they are frustrated they can’t get the inventory they want.

Mercedes’ luxury products are chock-full of technologies and features and, like other manufacturers, shortages of critical semiconductors to create dealer orders.

“We’re already in a much better shape than we were 12 months ago,” said Senol Bayrak, Mercedes vice president of sales, after the meeting. “But we do face challenges, and we’re working to make our whole value-added chain more efficient in getting cars from the factory to dealers.”

The company told dealers at the meeting that a redesigned GLC SUV will arrive in the first half of this year. The GLC is the brand’s No. 1 selling nameplate. The new EQE SUV will also reach dealerships this year.

 Mercedes also reported on the launch of a new networkwide support model for dealers that it calls “Air, Land & Sea,” designed to make business analytics and performance data available equally to all retailers, regardless of size or geography, said Frank Diertl, the automaker’s vice president of network development.

Retailers first heard of the new support plan at a national meeting in July, but the concept went live Jan. 3.

Diertl said Air, Land & Sea is intended to put competitive analytics at the fingertips of all dealers.

“In the past,” Diertl said, “dealers relied mostly on static data. This will provide them all with real-time insight into what’s happening.”

Mercedes also launched a newly restructured U.S. field organization this month, Mercedes executives said, with the intent of providing equal dealer support regardless of a store’s geographic location.

As part of that move, the automaker also changed the structure of its dealer advisory board as of Jan. 1.

The new board has doubled in size from 12 members to 24, and participation has been broadened to include dealership managers from both sales and service as well as more minority representation.

“We want to give a stronger voice to our dealers,” Bayrak said. “We want to improve the transparency of the whole organization.”