Mercedes-Benz Cars achieved another 10% in cost efficiencies in 2007 after a 12% gain in 2006, its chief operating officer has said.
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Rainer Schmueckle told Reuters the division wanted to gain another 10 to 15% in efficiencies, measured in production hours per vehicle, in the next three years on a cumulative basis.
Raw material buying costs were reduced by 7.5 to 8% over the period 2006-2007 and he expected further gains from purchasing practices over the next three years while the cost cuts due to Mercedes’ new plan for modular car design would start to kick in from 2010, the news agency reported.
Schmueckle said Mercedes would decide in 2008 about a possible east European plant for additional capacity for the smaller A- and B-Class vehicle. “In that sector you have to be competitive on costs,” he told Reuters.
