From February 21 to 23, 2025, when spring is getting stronger, the 25th Annual Meeting of the Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum was held as scheduled, bringing together elites from all walks of life. Among them, Mr. Duan Jianjun, the leader of Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co., Ltd., visited the scene and delivered a thought-provoking speech.
Duan Jianjun profoundly explained that true high-quality development is by no means a short carnival on the marketing stage, but an unswerving determination to the essence of luxury. He stressed that in recent years, the automobile industry has been changing, market competition has become increasingly fierce, and market chaos has spread. In order to attract attention and seize traffic, some brands do not hesitate to use improper means such as false propaganda, manipulation of public opinion, and belittle competitors. These behaviors have triggered people’s deep thoughts: in the noisy market, who will defend the balance of quality and who will protect the rights and interests of consumers?
He mentioned that on January 17 this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a loud announcement on “building a fair and just market environment”, clearly stating that it will strengthen supervision and regulation of excessive competition among enterprises, and severely crack down on market chaos such as malicious bidding, false propaganda, and mutual slander. This undoubtedly sets a clear rule framework for future market competition.
Duan Jianjun changed his tone and brought the focus back to the competitive nature of the automotive industry. He asked: “In the war without gunpowder in automobile manufacturing, where is our bottom line? The answer is undoubtedly safety, which is also Mercedes-Benz’s unswerving ‘gold standard’. Before every new Mercedes-Benz car is put into production, it must undergo rigorous safety tests, including up to 15,000 simulated collision tests, more than 150 real-vehicle collision tests, and durability tests covering the world and up to 5 million kilometers. In the Chinese market, we have added about 1 million kilometers of local road adaptability tests. Behind these numbers is Mercedes-Benz’s persistent pursuit of safety quality.”
He also revealed that in terms of testing methods and standards, Mercedes-Benz also dares to innovate and make breakthroughs. Perhaps everyone has taken their children to the playground and has seen the excitement of “bouncer” and “big pendulum”. In the field of automotive testing, Mercedes-Benz also has similar “extreme challenges”.
“Our ‘bouncer’ test can simulate the extreme situation when the vehicle falls freely, allowing the car to face the sky and the A-pillar to the ground directly to test the protection ability of passengers. The ‘big pendulum’ test simulates the lateral impact when the vehicle is out of control, such as impacting the isolation belt, to test the solidity of the body and chassis. Mercedes-Benz has been silently conducting such tests for more than 20 years.”
Faced with the phenomenon that many brands use Mercedes-Benz as the benchmark target at the new car launch conference, Duan Jianjun said: “We are neither rejected nor afraid of being benchmarked. Because every benchmark is to strengthen and consolidate Mercedes-Benz’s luxury status. Whether it is product technology or service quality, reasonable benchmarking is actually to use Mercedes-Benz’s standards to promote the progress of the entire industry and bring a positive impact to the industry.”
At the same time, he also solemnly stated that Mercedes-Benz will resolutely safeguard its rights and interests for unreasonable and wrong benchmarking behaviors, and it is not ruled out that legal means should be used to conduct solemn representations.
“We are delighted to see that more and more colleagues have begun to emphasize ‘standard’ at the press conference. We firmly believe that core values such as safety, design, comfort, quality and people-oriented intelligence are the ultimate goals that every automobile manufacturer should pursue. We look forward to working hand in hand with colleagues in the industry, showing their strengths, learning from each other, and continuously bringing better product and service experience to users.” Duan Jianjun’s speech was not only a affectionate confession to the Mercedes-Benz brand, but also a deep expectation for the entire automobile industry.