What Are The Everyday Issues That People Deal With? That Is Our Aim

BRITTA SEEGER joined the Board of Management of Daimler AG in January of 2017. She is responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Sales. What are her plans? The interview

- Chris Neimock

Having spent long periods living and working in South Korea and Turkey, you are now back in Germany. In your view, is there now such a thing as the global customer – that is, a mindset shared by customers all over the world, irrespective of whether they come from Seoul, Istanbul or Stuttgart?

BRITTA SEEGER: Well, Mercedes-Benz customers around the world certainly have one thing in particular in common: exacting demands when it comes to service and quality. They will settle for nothing short of the best. These expectations are the same everywhere, and are the standard that guides each and every Mercedes employee. In other respects, though, I have noticed that customer requirements tend to vary greatly, and are becoming ever more individualised.

Can you give us some specific examples of how they vary?

Let’s look at Asia, for example: Seoul is home to around 10 million people. So you would think that demand for compact vehicles such as the smart would be high. But, in fact, Koreans are much more inclined towards saloons such as the E- or S-Class. In China, demand for seven-seaters is especially high. Cars are used differently there, and tend to seat many more people than in Germany, for example. Our customers in Europe and the US gravitate towards entirely different mobility solutions.

In Asia, the use of digital services is very widespread, with other regions set to follow suit. How is Mercedes-Benz responding to this?