Photo/Lian Siwen (NBD)

According to CCTV’s report on April 15th, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz embarked on his visit to China on April 14th. This marks Scholz’s second visit to China since taking office and he is the first Western leader to visit China this year. Notably, accompanying him on this trip, in addition to three cabinet ministers responsible for environment, agriculture, and transport, is an economic delegation comprising senior executives from heavyweight companies such as Mercedes-Benz. The lineup is considered to be quite impressive.

“I am very honored to accompany Chancellor Scholz on his visit to China. We welcome China’s continued high-level opening up and are optimistic about the development potential of the Chinese market. China plays an important role in the global strategy of Mercedes-Benz, not only as our largest single market but also as one of the largest Mercedes-Benz car production bases and centers for technological innovation in the world,” said Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG. In the future, Mercedes-Benz will continue to invest in China, strengthen cooperation with Chinese partners, vigorously promote electrification and digital transformation, and consistently contribute to Sino-German economic and trade cooperation.

Källenius introduced that in the past two years, the Shanghai Research and Development Center, which focuses on digital innovation, has become the fastest-growing team in the Mercedes-Benz global R&D network. “We are delighted to inaugurate the new building of the Shanghai R&D Center this month, which signifies that our local R&D has fully entered a new phase of development with ‘Chinese innovation leading the global trend,’” said Källenius. Mercedes-Benz will continue to contribute to technological innovation in China’s intelligent connected vehicle sector.