2013 has been a very good year for Mercedes-Benz, with the luxury car manufacturer selling over 1.4 million passenger cars this year and likely to hit its best sales figures ever. Furthermore, the carmaker’s annual production of over 1.49 million vehicles means it has also surpassed the previous year’s record.
The new Mercedes-Benz CLA had an important contribution to the company’s increased production and sales. Available also in the U.S. since September, the CLA was delivered to 12,000 U.S. customers in only four months.
Launched in summer 2013, the all-new S-Class has already become the best-selling luxury sedan in the world. S-Class production in Sindelfingen is currently running to full capacity at an output of around 460 vehicles per day, the highest daily output ever for the S-Class.
Mercedes-Benz will be starting 2014 with its biggest range of new models since 2009. This is made possible by the expansion of production capacity, with the carmaker investing €1 billion in the Sindelfingen plant in 2013, as well as €1.2 billion in the Rastatt plant for compact car production. More than €1 billion will also be invested into the Bremen plant, the center of competence for the new C-Class .
Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz will invest over €300 million in additional powertrain capacity at the Romanian subsidiary Star Transmission. In China, Mercedes-Benz schedules investments of about €4 billion in coming years together with local partner BAIC to expand local production and build a new engine plant. The carmaker will also invest around €170 million in a new plant near São Paulo in Brazil to build the new C-Class and GLA.
By Dan Mihalascu
