The plant will start production as early as 2016, representing an investment of around €170m.

Andreas Renschler, management board member for rroduction and rrocurement at Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans, said: ‘Brazil is an important future market. With our local production we accept the challenge and take on the competition. The new facility stands exemplarily for the expansion of our global production network – we thereby approach our customers even more.’

‘With the local production of cars, Mercedes-Benz stands out as the only company to act in all segments of mobility in Brazil, with cars, trucks, buses and vans’, added Philipp Schiemer, CEO Mercedes-Benz do Brasil. ‘The proximity of our production footprint in São Paulo and Minas Gerais will also allow us to have a greater integration among plants and exchange possibilities for the employees.’

The plant will have a capacity of up to 20,000 vehicles each year. Around 1.000 new jobs will be created in the new facility.