Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has made it clear that he wants Mercedes-Benz to become the number one premium manufacturer in the world, a title that for the time being belongs to its arch-rival BMW.
Last year, Mercedes sold 1.36 million units, around 300,000 less than BMW. According to Manager Magazin, Zetsche plans to reach the number one spot by almost doubling the three-pointed star’s production to 2.7 million vehicles by 2020 and increase its operating profit beyond 10 percent.
The German publication reports that to make this happen, Mercedes plans two new factories, in China and North America respectively.
According to plan, the firm’s second North American factory will be built either in the U.S. or in Mexico and will become operational by 2017 or 2018. It will assemble the next-generation of the A-Class.
Daimler has already announced that it will invest more than $2 billion to upgrade and retool its existing U.S. plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in order to assemble the C-Class and the next-gen R-Class and G-Class.
