Official: Daimler Becoming Mercedes-Benz Next Week

Last October, Daimler AG made amajor announcementthat'llforever changethe nearly century-old German automaker. Shareholders voted to rename the company as the Mercedes-Benz Group AG with four unique brands: Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, and Mercedes-EQ. The truck and bus division was spun off last year. Why is this change happening? To unlock shareholder value. This coming Tuesday, February 1, 2022, is the pre-planned start date for the formal rebranding.

"We have a real chance to raise the multiple," Mercedes CEO Ole Kaellenius said. Although the carmaker didn't specifically mention a target valuation, it's currently worth around $85.70 billion. We'll know starting next week whether or not that figure will increase and, if so, by how much and for how long.

Going by the Daimler Truck AG spinoff in December, its shares have slightly increased, which is certainly a good sign. Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz shares were at their highest since 2015 last November. The new Mercedes-Benz Group would very much like to become the next Tesla or even Lucid as a stock market darling, but industry analysts have some reservations.

For starters, those two carmakers offered all-electric vehicles from the get-go whereas Mercedes is still in the process of converting its ICE lineup to electrification. New BEVs like theMercedes EQSandEQEare very good starts but there's still a long way to go. Because of this, there might be limitations as to how far Mercedes' value can go at the moment.