Innovation

One of the biggest negative impacts on the environment today is carbon emissions and greenhouse gasses. Many things contribute to carbon emissions, such as industry and agriculture, however, one of the largest impacts, and one that many people use in their day-to-day lives, is vehicle emissions. Mercedes-Benz Bidvest McCarthy Inyanga is at the forefront of this as a vehicle dealership, and has decided, along with the rest of the Mercedes-Benz corporation, that they need to take an initiative to decrease the carbon emissions that their vehicles produce. Thuthukani Buthelezi, who is a pre-owned vehicle sales executive at the dealership, explained to us in our interview with him that Mercedes' innovation to solve this problem was to create a new line of vehicles, the EQA range, which are all full electric vehicles. Additionally, by 2025 all of Mercedes’ newly launched vehicles offered will be fully electric.

In addition to the innovation, Thuthukani Buthelezi also discussed other ways that the dealership is working toward meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, such as becoming an equal opportunity employer by hiring more women in management and mechanical positions, as well as by providing jobs to the community of Empangeni.

Inspiration

The inspiration for the business was initially to offer Empangeni access to the market of luxury cars like Mercedes-Benz. From a business perspective, they saw an area where there was previously no market for luxury vehicles, and opened a Mercedes-Benz dealership to fill the gap in the market.

As the business began to flourish, they saw the impact it had on the community not only by providing a luxury vehicle brand, but also by providing jobs for people within the community. They then improved on this by working towards being an equal opportunity employer by hiring more women in management positions as well as mechanical positions.

The inspiration for the innovation was that Mercedes saw the impact that their vehicles' carbon emissions had on the environment and the planet. They realized that in order to become a sustainable brand and transition into a greener future, they needed to address their carbon emission production. This inspired them to start producing and selling electric vehicles, placing them both at the forefront of technology and the future of environmental sustainability.

Overall impact

The overall impact of the dealership's innovation is that it has led to a better version of the community it resides in. This is due to the SDGs that they have been working towards achieving. The primary SDG that the innovation targets is SDG 13 (Climate Action). Switching from vehicles that are powered by fossil fuels and internal combustion engines to vehicles that are powered by electricity and electric motors, they are greatly reducing the total carbon emissions that are released into the atmosphere when consumers drive their vehicles. In doing this, they are also achieving a couple of other SDGs, SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), and SDG 11(Sustainable Cities and Communities). This is because by developing new electric vehicles, they are furthering the Innovation and industry aspects of SDG 9, and they are also creating more sustainable cities and communities for SDG 11 by providing these communities with a carbon emission free method of transportation. Mercedes is also creating more jobs by employing people within the community to work at the dealership in sales, management, and mechanical positions.

Business benefit

The innovation has led to the success of Mercedes-Benz McCarthy Inyanga Empangeni, helping to build their reputation within the community and grow their ever increasing customer base, which has helped the business to flourish and increase their market share of the personal vehicle market.

The innovation has helped to increase job growth within the business as they have strived to achieve gender equality within the workplace, and are working towards this goal by hiring more women in positions of management, as well as mechanical positions. This has helped the dealership become a better employer, and increase job creation within the business by making employment at the dealership more appealing for potential employees from all walks of life. This not only benefits the Mercedes dealership and their brand image, but it also has a positive overall impact on the community.

Mercedes’ transition to electric vehicles will help Mercedes stay relevant in an ever changing world of technology. During our interview with Thuthukani Buthelezi, he discussed how Mercedes is embarking on a mission to release all of their car models as electric by 2025 as part of their plan called “retail of the future.” This innovation is beneficial for Mercedes-Benz McCarthy Inyanga as it will help them to stay at the forefront of innovation while reducing carbon emissions and helping to improve the sustainability of the environment.

Social and environmental benefit

The overall impact that the innovation has had on the community of Empangeni and the environment is that by switching from gas to electric vehicles, Mercedes is helping to significantly reduce the carbon emissions and air pollution that are normally produced from the use of cars, leading to an improvement in the environment and air quality, and therefore paving the way for a greener and more environmentally sustainable future. This improvement in environmental sustainability will not only be beneficial for the community of Empangeni, but all of the countries that Mercedes sells their electric vehicles in. In addition to this, the dealership’s commitment to employing people from all backgrounds, regardless of gender or ethnicity, has helped to bring equal opportunity jobs to Empangeni. This increase in jobs has helped to raise the employment rate, leading to an increase in the quality of life for the people in the community as well as improving economic growth within the community and the country.

Interview

Thuthukani Buthelezi, pre-owned vehicle sales executive