Porsche and Mercedes go it alone in the electric car: why they do not want to be associated with any brand

Collaboration agreements for the development of vehicles have experienced exponential growth in recent years. The reduction of costs and risks when launching a product It has encouraged brands to share platforms and technologies, but it has also led to a homogenization of the offer. The electric car has only deepened this way of working, but Mercedes and Porsche have decided to go their own way.

among the last most notorious industrial alliances, the creation of the Stellantis Group will allow FCA (Fiat and Chrysler) to work hand in hand with PSA (Peugeot, Citroën, DS and Opel). Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi have shared efforts in the electrification of their models and the connectivity development and autonomous driving and, in pairs, Suzuki and Toyota or Hyundai y Kia They work closely sharing developments looking for cleaner mechanics.

But in a context that tends to standardize products, Mercedes and Porsche disassociate themselves from any type of collaboration and they will work on their own.

A risky decision with its own arguments

Although collaboration agreements have their positive side for brands, they also have their negative side. At the same time that the manufacturer reduces costs you can also see your own development plans slowed down, having to share resources. In addition, as a group you may have more facilities to obtain raw materials, but the resources will be distributed as specified in the signed agreements. And the brand is always linked, unconsciously, to the colleagues in the automobile group.

Porsche and Mercedes, therefore, gain autonomy, room for maneuver and brand image. “We want to control the overall system of the electric motor, battery and power electronics as well as possible., in a similar way to how it is done with the combustion engine”, confirmed Markus Schäfer, head of Development at Daimler, in an interview with automobile week, as collected in Motorcycle.

Mercedes is already developing its own modular platforms and the second generation of its electric motors, revising those already present in the Mercedes EQS. In addition, toThey are sure that they can get an increase in their batteries of up to 25%. The bet is so strong that from 2025 all the platforms that are launched on the market will be electric, which does not mean that they will not continue to sell combustion vehicles. And, in addition, these will be specific to their general, luxury and high-performance or commercial models.

Porsche also has its own reasons for separate from the Volkswagen Group in the development of electric cars. The impact of the Porsche Taycan and the particularities of its clients have encouraged those from Stuttgart to disburse 100 million euros, according to Automotive News, and get out of the Artemis project that is the backbone of the electric future of the Volkswagen Group.

Going it alone for Porsche means reaffirming its conception of a different, exclusive and unique brand. Create their own exclusive platforms and in their own factories (something that the Artemis agreement prevented) is one of the main reasons. But, in addition, within the Volkswagen group, investments are being made in technologies related to the autonomous car, research that Porsche does not believe is a priority given the profile of its customers.

Are two unique exceptions and with their own peculiarities but Mercedes and Porsche show that there is still room to go it alone in the car market.