First Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake Rolls off the Production Line at Kecsemet

The Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake is the third model of the new compact family added to the production portfolio of the Mercedes factory in Kecsemet, Hungary.

Mercedes-Benz started production in Kecsemet in March 2012 with the new B-Class, while the CLA-Class was added to the production portfolio in January 2013. 300,000 units were produced in Kecsemet since March 2012, from which 150,000 B-Class and CLA-Class rolled off the production lines in 2014.

Since May 2014, Kecsemet factory has been operating in three shifts, proving that the new compact family from Mercedes-Benz is a huge success. 463,152 units of the A-Class, the B-Class, the CLA-Class and the GLA-Class were delivered to customers in 2014, which means a plus of 24.7 % compared with 2013.

The CLA has been very successful in the United States, almost doubling the unit sales to 27,000 vehicles in 2014.

The fifth new compact model, the CLA Shooting Brake, has been produced at Kecsemet plant since January 2015.

Investments in the Kecskemét plant to date total around a billion euros. After spending 800 million euros on the construction of the plant, the company has continued to develop the facility, last year above all in preparation for the production of the CLA Shooting Brake. This involved recruiting and intensively training many new employees, which brought the workforce to almost 4,000 people by the end of 2014.

The models of the new compact family are produced in Kecsemet and at Rastatt.

Thanks to the common architecture, all models can be produced in any order or volume at either location, which allows volumes to be distributed within the network depending on the current level of demand on the market.

Since August 2013, additional capacity has been available for the production of the A-Class in the form of a contract manufacturing arrangement with Finnish production specialist Valmet Automotive. In addition, production of the GLA for the Chinese market will start in the first half of 2015 at the Beijing production location of BBAC (Beijing Benz Automotive Corporation – a joint venture between Daimler and its Chinese partner BAIC Motor).

The CLA Shooting Brake is available at the sales start with two diesels, four petrol engines and only costs around 600 euro more than the four door coupe CLA.

The CLA Shooting Brake will be available in Europe from March 15, 2015. The prices are: