According to foreign media reports, two sources said that the German car manufacturer Daimler Group plans to transform Mercedes-Benz brand heavy-duty trucks in China by transforming the truck factory in China.
The plan will further deepen the alliance between Daimler and its Chinese truck partner Beiqi Foton. Just last month, Beiqi Group, the parent company of Beiqi Foton, just acquired a 5% stake in Daimler. A source said, "The domestic plan for Mercedes-Benz brand trucks has been brewing for several years, so it has nothing to do with the recent acquisition of Daimler shares by BAIC."
As early as 2016, Daimler’s head of truck operations told German media that it plans to produce Mercedes-Benz-branded Actros heavy-duty trucks in China by 2020. But since then, no details about the plan have been reported or announced.
Under the new plan, Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive Co., Ltd. will increase the production of Actros heavy-duty trucks on its production line, which currently produces Auman trucks and is the only truck brand of the joint venture. Foton Daimler plans to renovate its No. 3 plant, which will produce 60,000 heavy trucks per year and produce Actros and Auman heavy trucks. In addition, it will expand its capacity of No. 2 plant from the current 60,000 to 10 Ten thousand vehicles. The amount of the investment is not yet clear.
At present, all Mercedes trucks sold in China are imported, and the price is much higher than the domestic Auman trucks. For the plan, Daimler China Office did not immediately respond to the request for comment, and Foton Motor declined to comment.
Foton Daimler was founded in 2012 and sold more than 100,000 vehicles in the Chinese market last year. According to sources, Daimler is seeking to further develop the truck business with Foton Motor. Thanks to the development of the e-commerce industry and the improvement of transportation and logistics infrastructure, the Chinese heavy-duty truck market performed better this year than the overall auto market. In the first seven months of this year, the Chinese market sold a total of 732,000 heavy-duty trucks, a 1.4% decrease from the same period last year, but the overall auto market sales fell 13.5% during the same period. However, China lacks a stable supply chain for heavy trucks, one source said. “One of the biggest challenges is to build a good local supply chain because many of the current Mercedes heavy truck parts cannot be purchased locally.”
