Mercedes-Benz has commenced production of first locally build compact car, the GLA, at its new facility in Beijing, China.
Covering 1.5 million m2 area, the facility has been built within less than three years with an investment of €720m, the company said.
Located at Mercedes-Benz's joint venture Beijing Benz Automotive (BBAC), the plant will increase the production capacity of the JV to around 250,000 passenger cars by the end of this year. It features a paint shop that has dry scrubbers for top coat application.
Daimler board of management member responsible for China, Hubertus Troska said: "To have the right products and local production footprint is certainly essential for our sustainable growth in China.
"Today we bring both together, pushing our strategic partnership with BAIC and China to the next level."
The Beijing-compact car facility complements the company's existing plants in Rastatt, Germany; and Kecskemet, Hungary and Valmet Automotive plant in Finland.
The facility also complements BBAC making it the company's only production site that produces front- and rear-wheel-drive passenger cars as well as engines under one roof.
BBAC president and CEO Frank Deiss said: "BBAC is Mercedes-Benz's worldwide most comprehensive plant, manufacturing sedans, SUVs, engines and from now on also compact cars.
"Thereby the localization of compact cars marks a key milestone for the company."
The GLA is the successor of the GLK that is manufactured in China, and adds to Mercedes-Benz'sSUV family in China that also includes the M-Class, GL and G-Class variants.
The company plans to showcase the locally produced GLA models during the Auto Shanghai show scheduled to be held from 22 to 29 April.
Image: Daimler and BBAC officials at the opening ceremony of the new compact car plant in Beijing. Photo: courtesy of Daimler AG.
