The Kecskemét Plant in Hungary celebrates production milestone, two and half years after the opening, which makes it the youngest Mercedes-Benz plant. A polar silver Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG is the milestone vehicle that will have Japan as destination.
The Kecskemét plant plays an essential role in the success of Mercedes-Benz in the luxury compact car segment, mainly because the B-Class and the CLA are produced exclusively at Kecskemét, for all markets, including the USA. Even since its market launch in Europe in April 2013, the company has handed over 100.000 CLA vehicles to customers from all over the world. The CLA is extremely popular especially in the USA, the most important market, because every fourth vehicle of this model series is bought by an American customer.
Mercedes-Benz compact cars are produced in the flexible production network of the plants in Rastatt in Germany and Kecskemét in Hungary, where all models can be manufactured in any order and volume. Moreover, both plants can operate in three shifts –Rastatt since October 2012 and Kecskemét since May 2014.
Production of the B-Class started in both plants as the very first product of the new generation (Rastatt in September 2011 and Kecskemét in March 2012). After that, the new A-Class started production at Rastatt plant in July 2012. The CLA, the second vehicle produced at Kecskemét plant, has been produced since January 2013. Furthermore, the Hungarian plant will also produce the fifth compact model, the CLA Shooting Brake, which will be launched on the market in 2015. By the end of 2013, Rastatt plant counted around 6.600 employees, while the Kecskemét plant only 3,400.
Kecskemét Plant was opened two and half years ago, being the youngest Mercedes-Benz plant, with an annual production of 109,266 vehicles, for 31st December 2013.
