Mercedes-Benz to localize production of 3 additional models in 2025

Mercedes-Benz is set to build three new models – the long wheelbase versions of the CLA full electric sedan and the GLE gasoline crossover and a full electric multipurpose vehicle – in China next year to expand its local product portfolio. 

The German luxury automaker disclosed the information Sept. 4 when its CEO Ola Kaellenius was making his fourth visit to China this year. 

The stretched CLA -- a product tailor-made for China -- and the stretched GLE will be produced at Beijing Benz Automotive Co., Mercedes-Benz’s passenger-vehicle joint venture between with BAIC Motor Co. 

The electric MPV will be built at Fujian Benz Automotive Co., a multipurpose vehicle partnership between Mercedes-Benz, BAIC and Fujian Motor Industry Group Co., Mercedes-Benz said, without revealing the model name of the vehicle.

To support the production of the three new models, it plans to invest 14 billion yuan ($2 billion) along with the two local partners, the German luxury automaker said. 

Mercedes-Benz currently assembles 11 gasoline and electrified models at Beijing Benz Automotive Co. It builds three gasoline multipurpose vehicle models – the Sprinter, Vito and V-Class -- at Fujian Benz. 

For the first six months, it sold 341,500 locally produced and imported vehicles in China, a 6 percent drop from a year earlier.