Amazon Order Kick-Starts New Mercedes Van Plant

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – With an assist from Amazon, Mercedes-Benz Vans opens a $500 million factory here as executives emphasize it will shore up the German automaker’s position in one of its most important markets.

“The USA is already the second-largest market for our Sprinter today,” Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, says during last week’s dedication ceremony. “With the new, state-of-the-art production site in South Carolina, we will be able to supply our customers in North America even faster and with more flexibility in the future.

“Mercedes-Benz Vans goes global.”

The plant has about 900 workers and employment is expected to reach 1,300 when it becomes fully operational in 2020.

The new Sprinter will be marketed under the Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner brands. All the vans built in Charleston will be sold in North America, Mornhinweg says.

Mercedes-Benz Vans was given a big lift when Amazon, the shopping and delivery giant, agreed to purchase 20,000 Sprinter vans over the next year in an initiative aimed at helping entrepreneurs start their own delivery companies in cities across the U.S.

“We’re proud to partner with Mercedes-Benz Vans to contribute to local economies through the order of Amazon-branded Sprinter vans (below, left) produced at their new plant in North Charleston,” says Dave Clark, Amazon senior vice president-Worldwide Operations.

Since 2006, Mercedes-Benz Vans’ parent company, Daimler, has operated a so-called semi-knockdown plant where vans originally built in Germany and Spain are disassembled for shipment to the Port of Charleston to avoid the 25% tariff applied to light-duty trucks imported into the U.S. since the 1960s. The Sprinters then are re-assembled at a small plant outside Charleston.

Since 2015, Mercedes-Benz Vans also has imported midsized Metris vans and re-assembles then at the Charleston plant to avoid the tariff.

Mornhinweg says the existence of the semi-knockdown plant helped tip Mercedes-Benz’s decision to build a complete assembly plant with its own body shop and paint shop. The existing plant meant the automaker already had employees in South Carolina and had cultivated relations with government officials.

Key elements of the Sprinter will continue to be made in Germany, including the diesel and gasoline engines and 7- and 9-speed transmissions. A significant number of the metal stampings used to frame the Sprinter's large unibody also will be made in Europe.

The expansion of the production facility has tripled its footprint, now covering 222 acres (90 ha) or nearly 10 million sq.-ft. (929,000 sq.-m). The production and office areas occupy 41 acres (17 ha) or 1.8 million sq.-ft. (16,722 sq.-m), supplemented by logistics space, Mercedes-Benz says. Central to the Charleston plant’s intelligent production system are connectivity and digital communication in manufacturing to meet the demand for greater flexibility and efficiency, as well as the increasing diversity of vehicle variants.

The opening of the plant coincides with the launch of the third-generation ʼ19 Sprinter, which has been completely overhauled.

Roughly 30% of the 35,000 Sprinters sold in the U.S. in 2017 were converted into recreational vehicles, and one of the major goals of the redesign was to improve overall drivability with a new suspension, electronic steering system and brakes, says Robert Veit, North America vice president-Mercedes-Benz Vans.

Among the innovations built into the Sprinter for the North American market include a new MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) multimedia system, ergonomic seats and driver-assistance features such as lane-keeping assist, cross-traffic alert, active braking assistance and blindspot detection, Veit says.

Until now, Sprinters sold in the U.S. have been powered by a diesel engine. Starting early next year, he says, Mercedes-Benz plans to make an inline 4-cyl. engine borrowed from its car line available.

Mercedes-Benz Vans plans to launch a battery-electric version of the Sprinter in Europe early next year, and a Sprinter BEV also could be built in Charleston in the future, Mornhinweg says during a press conference after the dedication ceremony.

Clark says Amazon would be interested in an electric van, but the first 20,000 it will purchase and lease to entrepreneurs around the U.S. will be conventionally powered.