Mercedes-Benz Korea vows to strengthen community engagement

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Mercedes-Benz Korea President and CEO Dimitris Psillakis / Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Korea

Mercedes-Benz Korea has found success by focusing on high-end models and innovative research and development. As a result, the number of its showrooms has grown to 56 from 35 three years ago. The number of employees, including car dealers, has more than doubled to reach 5,500 over the same period of time.

The company is also seeking mutual growth with customers, business partners and local communities.

As one of the most important sustainability measures, Dimitris Psillakis, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Korea, explained that the company wants to engage people with their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.

“We did a big switch in the last couple of years to engage more people into joining our CSR activities,” Psillakis said during an interview with The Korea Times.

Mercedes-Benz Korea initially had three pillars of CSR activities ― “MobileKids” for children's safety, “Mobile Academy” for training teenagers and “All Together,” aimed at engaging employees in donation and volunteer activities.

In addition, the company has rolled out the “GIVE” series, which includes the “GIVE 'N RACE” marathon, “GIVE 'N BIKE” bike race and “GIVE 'N DRIVE” charity golf event.

Given that this year's “GIVE 'N RACE,” which marked the fourth such event Sunday, attracted around 20,000 participants and raised 920 million won ($769,267) for charity, the company sees a bright future ahead to expand its initiative.

“I'm happy we created this event, where one can exercise, have fun with friends and families and engage in donation,” he said. “I could sense from the faces of participants when we were high-fiving that they were truly enjoying every moment. It exceeded our expectations, in terms of both turnover and engagement.”

Psillakis shared the company's new drive to introduce “GIVE 'N GOLF,” an extension of the charity golf event, which is directed at customers. “The event, which will be launched later this year, may later lead to a national golf tournament for amateurs,” he said.

Admitting that the company's key CSR activities are mostly around safety, education and children, he mentioned some of the cultural events the company has taken part in.

“Our CSR umbrella is mainly focused on safety, education and children because we believe that children are the future of our society, children are vulnerable if not taken care of,” he said. “However, we do sponsor some cultural events and musicians, like musical Lion King and pianist Cho Seong-jin.”

He also mentioned Mercedes-Benz Korea set a Guinness World Record in November for gathering over 3,400 people to make kimchi as part of its “Mercedes-Benz Promise KimJang Project.”

“It was a good example of both promoting Korea's kimchi culture and donating 90 tons of kimchi to welfare organizations in Seoul,” he said.

“I get emotional whenever I meet orphans or children with disabilities. I think it's really important to carry out activities with our hearts, not as marketing or PR activities.”