Second Mercedes-Benz C-class plant starts production in South Africa

About three months after the start of production of the new Mercedes-Benz C-class at the Bremen plant in Germany, the second of the total of four locations has started production of the highest-volume Mercedes-Benz model line.

For the East London plant in South Africa, this is already the fourth generation of the C-class sedan. The new C-class is the first Mercedes-Benz model to be produced on four continents: Bremen and East London will be followed by the plants in Tuscaloosa/Alabama (USA) and Beijing (China) within the next few months.

Markus Schäfer, divisional Board member, Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain Management: "We are ramping up our C-class production as planned with the start of production in South Africa. Our youngest model is received very well by customers around the globe."

The Bremen plant, in its capacity as the so-called lead plant, controls global production of the C-class – from the tooling strategy to staff training from international plants to production quality. Around 500 employees from the international plants – among them more than 200 from East London – completed intensive training also in Germany in order to pass on their knowledge as multipliers in their respective home plants.

Arno van der Merwe, CEO and vice-president (manufacturing), Mercedes-Benz South Africa, said: "The new C-class marks another milestone for Mercedes-Benz in South Africa and for the East London plant. We have created 550 new jobs at the plant and have also made significant investments for the qualification of our staff. This goes especially with regard to the host of innovative manufacturing technologies which have been introduced at the plant for the first time with the new C-class.”

Photograph: Start of production of the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class at the East London, South Africa, plant. (Left to right) Markus Schäfer, divisional Board member, Mercedes-Benz Cars Production and Supply Chain Management, Arno van der Merwe, CEO and VP (Manufacturing), Mercedes-Benz South Africa, Dr Rob Davies, Minister of Trade and Industry of the Republic of South Africa.