Buenos Aires, Argentina/Stuttgart, Germany, September 14, 2011

60 years of Mercedes-Benz Argentinia

Mercedes-Benz Argentina celebrates 60th anniversary

Enlarge

First Mercedes-Benz production plant outside Germany celebrates its 60th anniversary

Sixty years ago Mercedes-Benz established its plant in Argentina, which was the company’s first production facility outside Germany. On September 6, 2011, Mercedes-Benz Argentina celebrated this event together with 700 guests in Buenos Aires. On this occasion, Daimler presented Europe’s current generation of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter for Argentina also and announced that it would soon begin to produce the OM651 engine in Argentina as well.

The guests at the celebration included Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner; Volker Mornhinweg, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans worldwide; Jürgen Ziegler, member of the Management Board of Mercedes-Benz Trucks with responsibility for the Latin America region; and Roland Zey, President of Mercedes-Benz Argentina.

The more than 1,800 employees at the Juan Manuel Fangio Industrial Center in Buenos Aires produce city bus chassis, trucks, and the Sprinter that is currently available in Europe. This makes the company the country’s only automaker to cover the entire commercial vehicle segment. In the first half of 2011 Mercedes-Benz Vans sold about 5,800 Sprinters in Latin America.

In his speech Volker Mornhinweg explained the strategic importance of the Argentinian facility for Mercedes-Benz Vans. “We plan to boost our van sales in Latin America by more than 30 percent in the next five years,” he said. “On this consistent path to growth, we are counting on the capabilities of our great team at the Juan Manuel Fangio plant here in Buenos Aires.”

At the celebration, Mercedes-Benz Argentina presented two new products: the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter that is currently available in Europe and the OM651 engine. Both products will be produced at the Centro Industrial Juan Manuel Fangio beginning at the end of 2011.

Daimler AG is investing more than $100 million in these projects in order to adapt the plant to the production of the OM651 engine and the successor of the current Sprinter. The OM651 is the latest diesel engine from Mercedes-Benz and it will be manufactured exclusively in Germany and Argentina.

Mercedes-Benz launched production of the 1720 "lightweight" heavy-duty truck this year. In parallel, the company is continuing to locally produce the current bus chassis OH 1618, OH 1718, and OF 1418. Mercedes-Benz has been producing bus chassis in Argentina since 1952, and its vehicles have been very evident on the South American country’s roads for decades.

The company's diverse range of products has paid off for the company. “Mercedes-Benz Argentina has become a highly specialized regional competence center for the production of vans and freight and passenger transport vehicles for export and local sale, “ said Roland Zey, President of Mercedes-Benz Argentina. “You can only do that with highly qualified and motivated employees such as those we have had for decades. Thanks to them, we have produced almost half a million vehicles since our foundation and are the undisputed market leader in Argentina.”

The company has been manufacturing the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter at its Centro Industrial Juan Manuel Fangio plant since 1996. From here it also markets and sells the vehicle. The Sprinter is the only vehicle of its kind to be manufactured in Argentina, and it is also the most successful export vehicle to be produced locally. It is sold in almost 50 countries worldwide, including Brazil, South Africa, and Australia.

Production of the Sprinter model currently available in Europe will commence in early 2012. The vehicle is scheduled to be introduced in Argentina and the rest of the region in the first third of 2012.

The production launch of the 1720 truck and the addition of a second shift to Sprinter production have led Mercedes-Benz Argentina to hire more than 300 new employees. With a current total of over 1,800 employees, Mercedes-Benz continues to have the largest commercial vehicle plant in Argentina.

If the employees at the other links in the value chain such as suppliers, body builders, dealers, and workshops are included, more than 15,000 jobs are directly or indirectly related to Mercedes-Benz Argentina.

During its production history in Argentina, Mercedes-Benz has manufactured almost half a million vehicles at the Centro Industrial Juan Manuel Fangio, including more than 180,000 trucks, over 100,000 buses, and over 200,000 Sprinters.

In 2011, Mercedes-Benz is the market leader in Argentina’s commercial vehicle segment — a position it has held for the past six years. The company has also been the market leader in the bus segment ever since local production started back in 1952. In the van segment, the Sprinter is the undisputed leader in the passenger transport and tourism sectors.

Mercedes-Benz Argentina is one of the most respected companies in the market, not only because of its sales successes but also as a result of its outstanding image. Since the company’s creation, business representatives and end consumers have regularly rated Mercedes-Benz Argentina among the best enterprises in a wide variety of rankings.