Thursday, November 02, 2023

A milestone for Malaysian automotive assembly - The 100,000th Mercedes-Benz vehicle rolls off the line at the Pekan Plant

Recently, the Mercedes-Benz Production Plant in Pekan is celebrated another milestone of production with the rolling out its 100,000th Mercedes-Benz passenger car. This historical milestone underlines Mercedes-Benz Malaysia’s commitment and dedication to manufacturing excellence and innovation in the luxury automotive industry, or in a much broader scale, the Malaysian automotive industry, as a premium brand has been assembling so many vehicles in the country to date.

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia has also stated in their historic announcement that the brand is committed to boost the local economy with continuous investment efforts of over RM500 million to date in its Pekan plant, strengthening the company’s local vehicle production quality and fostering the growth of the most desirable automotive brand in the world. Every new model introduced requires some new investment made to the plant and it shows as having been to the Mercedes-Benz plant a few years back, the Pekan plant actually scores top marks in terms of internal quality control vs. other Mercedes-Benz plants globally. This is also something satisfying to write about aside from the magical 100,000 unit number mentioned above.

Amanda Zhang, President & CEO of Mercedes-Benz Cars Malaysia & Head of Region, Mercedes-Benz Cars SEA II shared, “Mercedes-Benz is the first and only luxury automotive manufacturer to master the local production process in Malaysia. Since its establishment in 2004, the Mercedes-Benz Production Plant in Pekan has played a pivotal role in shaping the Malaysian automotive landscape. This year's milestone achievement highlights the plant's remarkable evolvement and journey, reinforcing our commitment to strengthening our foothold in the luxury car segment.”

The Future Is Electric according to Mercedes-Benz. Another important milestone was achieved earlier this year was the successful start of the locally assembled flagship EQS fully electric model, the EQS 500 4MATIC (in the photo above). This accelerates the brand’s electric mobility drive and shapes the future of its automotive manufacturing, as well as the direction of its plant in Malaysia. In this way, the company is consistently implementing the Mercedes-Benz strategy toward  an "electric only" future.

As Mercedes-Benz Malaysia strives to advocate an all-electric future in line with its global vision, Mercedes-Benz Cars has stated that they will be ready to go all-electric by the end of this decade wherever market conditions allow. 

Aside from the all-electric future, Mercedes-Benz’s commitment to sustainability is a fundamental aspect of its business strategy, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). In “Ambition 2039”, the company has set the target of making the fleet of new vehicles net carbon-neutral over the vehicles’ entire life cycle by 2039.

Andreas Lettner, Vice President of Production at Mercedes-Benz Cars Malaysia, was quoted saying regarding toward sustanability in the Pekan plant,  "In alignment with our sustainability vision, we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint by minimizing water and energy consumption while efficiently managing waste. Collaborating with our contract manufacturing partner, HICOM Automotive, we've undertaken numerous upgrades at our plant. These enhancements encompass investments in machinery, capacity expansion and the implementation of various sustainability measures. These measures include energy conservation, reduced raw material consumption through innovative packaging, rainwater utilization and the integration of green energy through photovoltaic panels."

Mercedes-Benz, together with its contract manufacturing partner, HICOM Automotive are working towards a Green Production Target for the production plant to ensure that the best practices are adopted in the reduction of energy, water and waste; while increasing the percentage of renewable energy in its production. This includes the aspiration to increase its renewable energy source from 30% (current) to 85% by the end of the decade.

No comments: