Mercedes A-Class
Compact cars such as the A-Class have helped Mercedes grow a lot in recent years.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
StuttgartEvery fourth vehicle, the Mercedes Benz sold worldwide, is a compact car. The segment with models such as the A-Class, the CLA or the B-Class has in recent years contributed to the enormous growth of the DaimlerCore brand contributed significantly.
In the next weeks will roll another compact car to the dealerships with the A-Class sedan, Daimler fights in the new car to Handelsblatt information, however, with production problems.
The ramp-up of production of the A-Class sedan in the factory in Mexico is worse than planned, it says in Group circles. Because of quality defects, more vehicles would have to be repaired than usual. Extrapolated to the full year 2019, are therefore likely to roll up to twenty percent less A-Class sedans at the site in Aguascalientes from the tape than advised, it is reported in Group circles.
The problem: At the site in Aguascalientes, one works together with new suppliers, some of which still have to be qualified, according to group circles. As a result, more improvements to the vehicles are necessary than usual.
However, the company only wants to hand over “flawless” cars to its dealers and customers. This principle is not shaken. A Daimler spokesman said on Handelsblatt request on Monday, it was a “completely normal production ramp-up”.
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When presenting the preliminary results for the financial year 2018 on Wednesday, Daimler stated in writing that “the startup of the GLE and the ramp-up of our plant in Mexico marks a difficult first quarter” in the passenger car sector.
CEO Dieter Zetsche emphasized that the run-up curve of new models is always attached to quality features. If these are “not yet fully achieved,” the “natural” has an impact on the number of units that could be sold, said Zetsche.
Originally, Daimler wanted to produce more than 70,000 units of the compact car in Mexico this year. That seems illusory. The Mercedes A-Class sedan is the first model of the brand with the star that is produced in Aguascalientes.
The Mexican plant is a production joint venture, half of which is borne by Daimler and one each by Renault-Nissan. In the fall of 2015, the automakers decided to build the joint venture and invested a total of one billion dollars.