A future small Mercedes-Benz SUV will be built at the Rastatt plant in Germany, Daimler has announced.
The firm’s chairman, Dieter Zetsche, made the announcement at a ceremony to mark the first new-generation A-Class rolling off the line at the 20-year old plant. The facility began manufacturing the latest generation B-Class in September 2011, with that car also made at Mercedes-Benz’s new Kecskemét plant in Hungary since March 2012.
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“This start of production marks a further milestone in our Mercedes-Benz 2020 growth strategy. The A-Class represents our offensive in the compact segment”, said Zetsche. “And there is more to come: the compact SUV will be the third model we will build here in Rastatt.”
Daimler is to invest around EUR1.2bn at Rastatt plant for production of small models such as the B-Class which use the MFA ((Modular Front Antrieb) platform. In a first wave of expansion, EUR600m went towards the construction of a new bodyshell building and for tooling, with a further EUR600m to follow over the remainder of 2012 and into 2013 as part of a second phase.
A further EUR400m will be invested in Daimler’s powertrain plants this and next year for production of components solely used in the new compact models. The company notes that 900 permanent jobs have been created at Rastatt since 2010, 500 of them this year.
Daimler is yet to reveal much about its future compact SUV but its codename is said to be X156. There have been countless rumours about the vehicle’s model name, with GLA-Class believed to be one of the more likely possibilities. What is known is that the model will be sold in the USA, the company having stated this in March 2012.
Author: Glenn Brooks
