The five millionth Mercedes-Benz compact vehicle “Made in Rastatt” since production of the first A-Class began back in 1997 has rolled off the production line at Mercedes-Benz’s Rastatt plant. This marks a historic production milestone for the A- and B-Class and the GLA at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Rastatt.
In addition, the Rastatt plant is broadening its portfolio with the addition of the A-Class Sedan. As the lead plant of the Mercedes-Benz Cars production network, Rastatt is now producing four compact models (A- and B-Class, A-Class Sedan and GLA).
It was a year ago that Mercedes-Benz Cars initiated a global production ramp-up cascade. Production of the A-Class Sedan started in the third quarter of 2018 at the COMPAS (Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes) joint venture production plant in Mexico. This means that the new A-Class Sedan is now being produced at two plants within Mercedes-Benz Cars’ global production network. Connectivity, digitisation, flexibility and sustainability are the buzz words in the production of Mercedes-Benz Cars. Especially at Mercedes-Benz’s Rastatt plant, which is connected to all the plants of the global compact car production network. A highly motivated workforce and Industry 4.0 technologies enabled the Mercedes-Benz plant in Rastatt to ramp up the production of three new compact models (A- and B-Class, A-Class Sedan) in top quality in the space of a year for fast and flexible delivery to the markets. Ongoing improvements in recent years have additionally enabled
Mercedes-Benz’s Rastatt plant to achieve substantial reductions in energy consumption per vehicle in the production process.
“Our team in Rastatt is looking forward to putting the new A-Class Sedan on the road in the customary Mercedes-Benz top quality. The Rastatt team demonstrated its competence and flexibility once again during the compact car production ramp-up cascade in 2018. The production of the five millionth Mercedes-Benz compact vehicle highlights the Rastatt plant’s importance as the lead plant for Mercedes-Benz’s compacts, in addition to which it is ideally prepared for an upcoming compact electric vehicle of the EQ product and technology brand,” notes Thomas Geier, Site Manager of the Mercedes-Benz Rastatt plant.
The launch of the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan represents a further important step in the production of the new compact car generation, which is being produced within a flexible and efficient set-up spanning five locations.
The family of compact cars currently comprises seven models: Mercedes-Benz A-Class, B-Class, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake, GLA, A-Class Sedan and the A-Class Sedan with long wheelbase, which has been in production in Beijing specifically for the Chinese market since the third quarter.
Mercedes-Benz has invested extensively in technologies and know-how at the Rastatt plant. The infrastructure which has been created allows the A-Class Sedan to be integrated into current series production operations – it runs on the same lines as have been used for the new A-Class compact Sedan and the GLA since April 2018. This means that three models are now being manufactured on a single production line.
The new A-Class notchback model sees Mercedes-Benz Cars bringing the Sedans back to Rastatt after more than 20 years. The E-Class of the 210 model series was produced here until 1996, before the first A-Class founded the compact car segment in 1997 and Rastatt became the cradle of the Mercedes-Benz compact cars.
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SOURCE: Daimler
