Mercedes-Benz Trucks announces the upcoming construction of a truck assembly and production site in Cheb, Karlovy Vary region of the Czech Republic. The factory should be operational before the end of this decade.
The German manufacturer justifies this investment with the need to strengthen the competitiveness of its production network, optimize costs and better manage complexity. Currently, Mercedes-Benz trucks are produced in Germany (Wörth am Rhein – photo), Turkey (Aksaray) and France (Molsheim – Custom Tailored Trucks). However, the manufacturer wants to increase its market share and the Wörth plant is limited in its development due to its high complexity: all models in the range are produced there with all available engines and this level of complexity threatened to increase even further with the arrival of hydrogen engines. The opening of a new factory will therefore reduce this complexity and improve assembly processes. Daimler Truck will also invest more than two billion euros in its German production sites by 2030, about half of which will go to Wörth. These investments include a new paint shop and the adaptation and expansion of the rough body zone for future generations of cabs. In addition, the German plant will play a greater role in the defense sector, which is currently one of the specialties of the Molsheim plant.
The future Czech factory is expected to take over part of the current production program of Wörth and Aksaray, which will give Wörth more room to maneuver. The plant will assemble vehicles with conventional and alternative propulsion using painted cabs supplied from Wörth, with an estimated production capacity of approximately 25,000 units per year. This figure is comparable to the 50,000 to 100,000 units per year that can be produced at the Wörth plant, making it the most important plant in terms of volume.
