Mercedes-Benz South Africa (Pty) Ltd. (MBSA), a unit of Daimler AG, received confirmation yesterday of the production of the next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

Following extensive planning and preparation to present the East London plant as an optimal manufacturing location within the global production network, Daimler AG, one of the biggest producers of premium cars and the world’s biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles, announced that it would be investing a further R2-billion into the South African plant in preparation for production of the next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which will be introduced to global markets in 2014.

Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG Board of Management member, Manufacturing and Procurement Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans, said: “Daimler AG is delighted to include South Africa among the four manufacturing locations around the world to build the next-generation C-Class – the most popular model within the Mercedes-Benz passenger cars range. The Mercedes-Benz plant in East London has been recognised repeatedly for its excellent production quality by J.D. Power and Associates and is one of the best manufacturing plants in the industry. This success is not least due to the great efforts of the East London plant’s team and its stringent application of the Mercedes-Benz production system with its robust processes and rigorous quality standards.”

The three other Mercedes-Benz plants selected to produce the next-generation C-Class are located in Germany, China and the USA. MBSA’s future export programme will include building both left- and right-hand drive C-Class models for export to markets in Africa and the Asia Pacific region.

Delighted with the announcement and the ‘vote of confidence’ in the local operations, Dr. Hansgeorg Niefer, CEO of MBSA, said: “We have had immense success in South Africa with the C-Class, and we have exported to left-hand drive markets since 1998 and to right-hand drive markets since 2000. Today is very special, as we can now go full steam ahead with our preparations to build the next generation of this successful Mercedes-Benz model.”

This R2-billion investment is expected to further enhance the positive economic impact of Mercedes-Benz’ activities in South Africa, both directly through its own operations as well as indirectly, e.g. on the supplier level. “We will bring more than a dozen new technologies to South Africa in the car and production processes,” said Dr. Niefer. “MBSA will localise more than 40% of the components for this new vehicle. We expect to see more investors and new suppliers, all with the latest technologies coming to the country. These developments will certainly strengthen the entire automotive value chain.”

Mercedes-Benz sees the departure of a record consignment of 3 280 locally built Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars from SA’s East London port today. The largest single shipping consignment from Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) is destined for the United States. Even more noteworthy is that MBSA loaded its 100 000th Mercedes-Benz C-Class for export to the US – a milestone in our South African vehicle export history.

Rainer Ruess, manufacturing site leader at MBSA’s local automotive plant said “this shipment reaffirms that US customers are very satisfied with the South African build quality.” In July, J. D. Power and Associates presented the platinum Award for Initial Quality to the MBSA plant, following a US survey conducted among over 80 000 new US car owners earlier this year. The local plant was thus named the best plant in the world – best among all brands and manufacturers serving the US.

Terry Taylor, corporate affairs manager of Transnet National Ports Authority remarked that the recent deepening of the west quay at the East London harbour had reaped immediate benefits. “The new depth allows more flexibility for larger vessels. Together with this we also added another 1 200 parking bays in close proximity to the quay-side. The total cost of the development was just over of R40 million”.