Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz Vans said on Friday that it would invest around US$500m to build a new van plant in the United States. Located in Charleston, South Carolina, the facility will supply the North American market with the next-generation Sprinter.
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The plant’s location was officially announced in Charleston by Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans. With the new plant, Mercedes-Benz Vans will become one of the biggest industrial employers in the region. Within the total area of more than 200 acres (more than 800,000 m²), the division will create a completely new body shop, a paint shop and an assembly line. Construction of the new factory is scheduled to begin in 2016.
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“The new Sprinter plant in the United States is essential for Mercedes-Benz Vans, as the large van segment is expected to grow rapidly in North America over the next few years. The United States is one of the most dynamic van markets in the world. At the same time, Mercedes-Benz Vans currently faces high US import duties and a complex disassembly process of Sprinters made in Germany for sale in the US [they are shipped CKD from Germany for US assembly – ed]. The new plant and the vehicles ‘Made in USA’ will enable the company to more economically meet the growing demand from North American customers in the future and to considerably reduce delivery time on this market,” Daimler said in a statement.
Mornhinweg said: “Charleston is an excellent location for our new plant. The region has very highly skilled workers, a dense network of reliable suppliers, and an outstanding logistics infrastructure that includes good transport connections to the nearby harbour.”
First introduced in 1995, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is claimed to be the world’s leading large van, more than 2.8m have been delivered in around 130 countries.
It’s key to the division’s ‘Vans goes global’ growth strategy, which aims to consistently expand the business worldwide and exploit additional sales potential in growth markets outside Europe.
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By GlobalDataMornhinweg said: “The Sprinter founded the large van segment and has always set the standards for safety, efficiency and quality in its vehicle class. We are market leader in many regions worldwide, and also here in the United States many van customers are enthusiastic about this vehicle concept. In 2014 alone, we delivered around 26,000 Sprinters to US customers, making the US our second-largest sales market after Germany.”
The Sprinter has been available in the United States since 2001 and today holds approximately 9% of the country’s large van market. Mercedes-Benz Vans pursues a dual-brand strategy in the US where it offers the Sprinter as both a Mercedes-Benz and a Freightliner-branded vehicle. Sprinters of both brands will also roll off the assembly line at the future plant in Charleston. Besides the Sprinter, the vans division will also add the Metris series of medium-sized vans to its product range in the US beginning next autumn.
