The Mercedes-Benz Group announced its plans to invest over US$2 billion (RM8.67 billion) with local Chinese partners for the expansion of its product line-up in China, reported Car News China.
Of the sum to be invested, over US$1.4 billion (RM6.07 billion) will be allocated to passenger vehicle operations, while US$550 million (RM2.38 billion) will go towards light commercial vehicles.
These models, which will be made in China, will be manufactured by existing Mercedes-Benz joint venture companies. For passenger vehicles this will be Beijing Benz, a joint venture with BAIC, while light commercial vehicles will be by Fujian Benz, a joint venture with BAIC and Fujian Motor Company.
Among the passenger vehicles planned, Beijing Benz will start production of models built on the MMA architecture next year, likely beginning with the fully electric, long-wheelbase CLA, according to the report. The Concept CLA that was unveiled last year aimed to preview an entire family of entry-level, fully electric models.
The China-specific investment will also be directed towards the long-wheelbase GLE SUV, which will also be a China-exclusive model and which will be the first model to be developed by the marque’s China-based R&D team, the report noted. This long-wheelbase GLE will emphasise rear seat passenger comfort and intelligent technologies aimed at the Chinese market.
Investment that will be channeled to the Fujian Benz light commercial division will go towards the production of a new luxury electric MPV that will be built on the manufacturer’s VAN.EA architecture, and all future medium- and large-sized light commercial vans will be derived from this scalable electric platform.
The German brand is also developing a new software architecture named MB.OS, which is being developed in-house and is set to debut next year alongside new models based on the modular MMA architecture. This will offer a new MBUX virtual assistant with enhanced, three-dimensional graphics and large language models, as well as an ‘end-to-end’ smart-driving system that is tailored to the Chinese market, it said.
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