According to the journal Automobilwoche, Mercedes will spend billions of dollars upgrading its factories in China, Germany, and Hungary over the next few years as it gets ready to transition to electric vehicles and reduce emissions.
By the end of this decade, compared to 2020, the European Union wants to cut the CO2 emissions produced by passenger cars in half, and it is working to get an agreement on a 2035 deadline to stop selling cars that run on fossil fuels.
When the market allows, Mercedes has stated that it will be prepared to make the switch to electric vehicles by the end of this decade.
Production manager Joerg Burzer was reported by the magazine as saying, “We are investing a three-digit million amount each facility for the run-up.” He added that these investments will be made at the plants in Beijing, Rastatt, Germany, and Kecskemet, Hungary.
The automaker will begin construction on the Rastatt facility in the next months and starting in 2024, it will start producing the first model of the MMA compact vehicle platform. According to Burzer, the factory will create four models instead of seven.
Mercedes will also spend low single-digit billions of dollars updating the painting systems at its German factories in Sindelfingen, Bremen, and Rastatt.
The modernization, according to the report, intends to reduce energy and water usage as well as the painting system’s reliance on gas rather than carbon-free energy.
According to Automobilwoche, Mercedes is also thinking about enlarging its Tuscaloosa, Alabama, manufacturing facility so that it may take advantage of government incentives provided by last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Burzer declared that Mercedes was prepared to adapt to any future modifications to the regulatory landscape.
We might need to respond to the ongoing changes in the global framework conditions, Burzer stated.
