A new era begins at the Mercedes-Benz factory in Kecskemét - VIDEO REPORT
2020. 12. 14.
Mercedes-Benz will start series production of a purely electric vehicle in Hungary in the last quarter of 2021. After that, the production lines of the Kecskemét plant will manufacture all drive types from the classic internal combustion engines through the plug-in hybrids to the purely electric drive. The integration of the new EQB compact SUV model into current series production is made possible by previously launched, forward-looking flexible and efficient processes. With this development worth more than EUR 100 million, the Kecskemét plant remains an important pillar of Mercedes-Benz Cars' global production network.
The Mercedes-Benz plant in Kecskemét will become the pioneer in Hungary in the field of electric motoring: the new EQB will be the first purely electric drive vehicle manufactured in series production in Hungary. The planned start date for production is the last quarter of 2021.
Production of Mercedes-Benz's first fully electric compact SUV model, the EQA, recently began at the Rastatt plant. With the Kecskemét plant, another production site has been announced, which will be the first to start series production of an electric vehicle, the EQB, in Hungary.
The company's decision to locate the production of the purely electric compact SUV in Kecskemét is an important milestone in the life of the Hungarian factory. In the production network of Mercedes-Benz Cars, as part of the ongoing transformations for the production of electric cars and digitization, a total investment of more than EUR 100 million is planned at the Kecskemét plant. These investments are part of the company's business plans for 2021–2025. A few months ago, in July of this year, the series production of two plug-in hybrid models belonging to the Mercedes-Benz compact car family, the CLA 250 e Coupé and the CLA 250 e Shooting Brake, began in Kecskemét.
The first prototypes of EQB are already being manufactured at the Kecskemét plant on a special, separate production line, the so-called "Pilot Line", so that the processes of subsequent series production can be planned precisely and designed in the most efficient way possible. Like other Mercedes-Benz electric models, the EQB will be produced on the same production line at the Kecskemét plant as the conventional and hybrid drive models.
