The Romanian plant of the Mercedes-Benz Group will participate in the manufacture of electric vehicles

By RBJ
German car group Mercedes-Benz presented on Wednesday a plan worth more than one billion euros aimed at adapting its global production capacities to the manufacture of electric propulsion systems, including the assembly of batteries, motors and electric axles, starting in 2024, the agency reports. Reuters, quoted by Agerpres.
Thus, the Mercedes factories in Kamenz and Untertuerkheim, Germany, as well as the one in Beijing, China, which already produce batteries for electric and hybrid models, will produce the batteries for models built on the future MMA and MB.EA platforms, while a another factory dedicated to the production of batteries in Koelleda, Germany, awaits the support of the regional government.
Also, the Mercedes plants in Untertuerkheim, Beijing and Sebeş (Romania) will build electric motors for vehicles that will be built on the future MMA and MB.EA platforms, while the Mercedes plants in Hamburg and Untertuerkheim will remain the main units responsible for assembly of bridges and electrical components.
“There is no plant that is not included” in this plan, said Mercedes-Benz production director Joerg Burzer.
The management team and employee representatives will reach an agreement, by June, regarding the transition of the European plants to the production of electric vehicles, so that the plant in Sindelfingen (Germany) will become the headquarters for the production of high-end vehicles based on AMG.EA platform, while the plants in Bremen (Germany) and Kecskemet (Hungary) will be responsible for the main luxury models and the plants in Rastatt (Germany) and Kecskemet for entry-level vehicles.
The Mercedes-Benz group has set up its assembly plants so that they can produce both vehicles with combustion engines and the old electric ones on the same production lines, but assembling batteries and engines on the same line is a bit more complicated, stated Joerg Burzer. However, many of the component plants will continue to make parts for the combustion engine cars as long as there is demand, as the German luxury carmaker aims to transition to exclusively selling electric cars at the end of this decade “when the market conditions will allow it”.
The “Star Assembly” production unit in Sebeş (Alba county) is an important component of the production network for the undercarriage of vehicles produced by the German Mercedes-Benz concern.
Production at the Sebeş facility began with the assembly of eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearboxes and nine-speed transmissions for Mercedes-Benz, and from 2020 the hybrid vehicle variant is also being assembled, an important step towards the production of friendly vehicles with the environment, without carbon emissions.
The SC Star Assembly SRL assembly and production unit from Sebeş is, together with the SC Star Transmission unit from Cugir, an important component of the production network for the undercarriage of vehicles produced by the German Mercedes-Benz concern.