On December 7, German carmaker Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) announced that the next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class will be build in East London, South Africa. An investment of R2-billion (about 220 million Euro) was confirmed by the Daimler AG to prepare the East London plant for the production start in 2014.

Enlarge image Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe, South African Deputy Minister of the Department of Trade and Industry and Hansgeorg Niefer, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz SA (© MBSA) Confirming the decision, Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG Board of Management member 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.“

Bernhard went on to say that “MBSA has also managed to provide us with a business and production plan that is competitive globally. Hence, our decision to also build the next-generation of our C-Class at the East London plant is a logical step. This new, additional investment follows numerous significant investments, totalling over R5-billion that Daimler AG has made in South Africa over the past 10 years.”

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. Just recently we exported the 100 000th C-Class built in East London. In the first quarter of next year we should reach the half-a-million mark of C-Class vehicles produced locally since 1994, which marked the model’s start of production in South Africa.”

Enlarge image Workers manufacture the C-Class Mercedes-Benz in East London (© MBSA) The 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. The investment also provides for extensive skills development and training locally and in Germany, as well as for new plant and equipment, and the introduction of some of the very latest manufacturing technology. 

“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.

About MBSA

The headquarters of MBSA are located in Zwartkop/Pretoria. At the Mercedes-Benz East London plant, more than 2,400 employees produced more than 41,000 Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedans in 2009. Mercedes-Benz has been active in South Africa since 1954 and acquired the majority of the East London plant in 1984.