Mercedes-Benz invests R3bn into South African manufacturing plant

Jörg Burzer, a member of the Mercedes-Benz Cars board, said: “South Africa is an important location in our global Mercedes-Benz production network. The team in East London made a remarkable contribution to the international ramp-up of the new C-Class that we produce through efficient, flexible, digital and sustainable operations.”

Since the investment announcement in 2018, the R10bn investment was utilised for a wide modernisation of the East London Plant. The plant upgrades include a new body shop, which has been designed for higher capacities and features more than 500 IoT industry 4.0-enabled robots. To allow the East London Plant to increase volume outputs, optimise the assembly line and achieve commercial synergies, a new Body Shop has been built at the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ), where vehicle parts for the new generation C-Class are manufactured.

More than 700 tons of steel have been installed for the additional three lines in the assembly shop and a new logistics warehouse.

Overall, the new buildings comprise an area of approximately 100,000sqm. This reflects an additional two-thirds of the already existing buildings for passenger vehicle production. At the Mercedes-Benz Learning Academy, additional robotics were installed for training.

Production of the New Generation C-Class officially begins at our East London Plant today. With R13 Billion in investments since 2018, South Africa’s long, successful history with Mercedes-Benz Cars continues to grow and enhance local industry. https://t.co/qDpNLif5tc pic.twitter.com/roJUGmGy9G

— Mercedes-Benz South Africa (@MercedesBenz_SA) June 24, 2021