Mercedes 2013 Annual Report Download - page 151

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D | The Divisions | Mercedes-Benz Cars
with the brand is being further simplified by new communi-
cation channels such as the “Mercedes-Benz connect me” online
shop, which was launched in Hamburg in late 2013. The exist-
ing sales team is also being expanded to include new professional
profiles such as mobile sales consultants. This is important
because Mercedes-Benz partners – dealerships and authorized
sales outlets – will remain the most important points of
contact for customers in the future.
Expansion of the production network. In order to meet
the strong demand for our new products, we are expanding
our production operations in a manner that will make them
more responsive to customer and market requirements.
At the same time, we are continually enhancing the productivity
of existing facilities. These measures will also allow us to
create the production conditions needed to achieve the targets
of our “Mercedes-Benz 2020” growth strategy.
Substantial investments in Germany underscore our commit-
ment to the country as a key manufacturing location. Germany
remains the heart of our global production network, in which
our German plants serve as centers of expertise. We invested
more than €1 billion in our Sindelfingen facility in 2013; the
launch of the new S-Class accounted for a large portion of that
outlay. The investment volume at our main plant in Stuttgart-
Untertürkheim amounted to more than €800 million during
the year under review. In addition, we will invest more than €1
billion in our facility in Bremen by the end of 2014. The focus
there is on preparations for the plant’s role as the competence
center for the new C-Class. This model is now being built in
a production network comprising the plants in Bremen, Tusca-
loosa (USA), Beijing (China) and East London (South Africa).
We are also continuing with the expansion of our international
production locations. One focus here is on the plant in Tusca-
loosa, Alabama, in the United States. Preparations are being
made there for the production of the new C-Class as of 2014
and of an all-new Mercedes-Benz model series starting
in 2015.
Together with our partner BAIC, we are investing a total of
roughly €4 billion over a period of several years in our
facility in Beijing. The first long-wheelbase version of the new
E-Class rolled off the assembly line there in September 2013.
In November, the first Mercedes-Benz engine plant outside
Germany went into operation in Beijing, and local production
of the GLA compact SUV is scheduled to begin in 2014.
Valmet Automotive, a specialist manufacturing company,
began providing additional capacity for A-Class production
in August 2013. The Valmet plant in Uusikaupunki, Finland,
will manufacture more than 100,000 A-Class cars flexibly and
in line with market requirements by the end of 2016.
We are expanding our production capacity also in Brazil,
where a new assembly plant in Iracemápolis near São Paulo
will begin producing the next generation of the C-Class
and the GLA for the local market in 2016.
Further reduction of CO2 emissions. Our new engines and
extremely efficient model variants once again enabled us to
substantially reduce the average CO2 emissions of the cars we
sold in the European Union in 2013 – this time from 140 g/km
to 134 g/km. Our new compact-class models played a major role
in this accomplishment. Our overall objective is to reduce the
average CO2 emissions of our fleet of new cars in the European
Union to 125 g/km by 2016. E see pages 110 f
The compact premium SUV – the GLA – another milestone in the product and growth offensive of Mercedes-Benz.
1 ML 250 BlueTEC 4MATIC: fuel consumption in l/100 km
urban 7.1 – 6.7 / extra-urban 5.7 – 5.3 / combined 6.2 – 5.8;
CO2 emissions in g/km combined 163 – 154.
2 B-Class 200 Natural Gas Drive: natural gas consumption
in kg/100 km urban 6.0 – 5.6 / extra-urban 3.4 – 3.3 / combined 4.4 – 4.3;
CO2 emissions in g/km combined 162 – 153.
3 E-Class 300 BlueTEC HYBRID: fuel consumption in l/100 km
urban 4.5 / extra-urban 4.6 – 4.4 / combined 4.5 – 4.4;
CO2 emissions in g/km combined 119 – 116.
4 smart fortwo electric drive: electricity consumption in kWh/100km 15.1;
CO2 emissions in g/km 0.0.
5 B 180 CDI: fuel consumption in l/100 km
urban 5.2 – 4.9 / extra-urban 4.1 – 3.7 / combined 4.5 – 4.1;
CO2 emissions in g/km combined 117 – 108.