Daimler Colombia has opened a CKD assembly plant in Bogotá to build the Mercedes-Benz Atego 1016 and Thomas Built EF 1723 bus chassis.
The plant is in an industrial zone of Bogota, 1,000km (600 miles) from a port and at least a 12-hour trip by car.
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The facility required an investment of about US$1m, uses 18% local content and employs 37. Capacity is about 1,000 units a year. The chassis have diesel Euro IV or V engines, ABS brakes and the Thomas has automatic transmission.
Daimler set up a fully owned subsidiary in Colombia in 1998 with the “aim of increasing its share especially in commercial vehicles”. Now, almost 14 years later, the automaker has increased its investment because “there are some city transportation projects on track besides export opportunities in Central America and the Caribbean”, according to Matthias Held, president of Daimler Colombia.
The facility is Daimler’s fourth in South America after Argentina and Brazil. Daimler Colombia volume has grown from 1,780 units in 2009 (passenger cars and commercial vehicles) to 3,800 in 2011. The 2012 forecast is sales of at least 5,800.
