Next-Gen Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Will Be Built in North America as Well

Mercedes-Benz Vans has revealed plans for the next generation of the Sprinter van, announcing its commitment to German production sites as well as the addition of a new plant in North America.

The company said the next generation of the Sprinter will be built at the Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde plants in Germany, which will receive a total investment of €450 million for this purpose. Mercedes-Benz Vans will invest €300 million in the Düsseldorf plant, the leading facility for worldwide Sprinter production, to modernize the body shop, the paint shop, and the assembly line. The closed models of the Sprinter have been produced in Düsseldorf since 1995.

Significant investments will also go the Ludwigsfelde plant, where the open models of the Sprinter have been produced since 2006.

Besides these two key assembly plants, Mercedes-Benz Vans has reached the conclusion that a Sprinter production unit in the NAFTA region is necessary. That’s because the U.S. is now the Sprinter’s second-largest sales market after Germany, with 23,000 deliveries in 2013.

To avoid high import tariffs, the Sprinters for the U.S. market have so far been produced at the two German plants, partly dismantled in a time-consuming process, and reassembled at the plant in Charleston, South Carolina. However, this process “results in a significant competitive disadvantage on the U.S. market for Mercedes-Benz,” says the automaker, since it leads to long delivery times. It also makes the vehicle more expensive for U.S. customers, and is not feasible in the long term considering the expected growth in demand.

“We can cover the growing demand for large vans in the North American market economically only if we produce the vehicles locally in the NAFTA region. That’s why we have decided to produce the next generation of the Sprinter in North America as well,” said Volker Mornhinweg, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans.

The company will decide the exact location for the future plant during the coming months.

Note: current generation of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter pictured