Fujian Benz

Fujian Benz Automotive Co., Ltd.
福建奔驰汽车有限公司^[1]
Type	Limited company
Industry	Automotive
Founded	June 2007 (Fúzhōu)
Headquarters	Fuzhou, China
Area served	Hong Kong[citation needed]; Mainland China; Taiwan[citation needed]; South Korea[citation needed]
Key people	(General Manager)
Products	Minivans, Multi Purpose Vehicles and Special Purpose Vehicles
Number of employees	1,600 (2016)
Parent	Daimler AG; Fujian Motors Group; China Motor Corporation
Website	www.fujianbenz.com

Fujian Benz Automotive Co., Ltd., formerly Fujian Daimler Automotive Co., Ltd., is a light commercial vehicle manufacturing company based in Fuzhou, and a joint venture between Daimler Vans Hong Kong Limited (a joint venture of Daimler AG and China Motor Corporation of Taiwan), BAIC Motor Corporation Limited (35%), and Fujian Motor Industry Group Co., Ltd (15%).

History[]

The company was founded in June 2007 as Fujian Daimler Automotive Co. by Fujian Motor Industry Group (50%), Daimler (34%) and China Motor Corp. (16%).^[2] It began construction of an assembly plant in the Qingkou Investment Zone, Fúzhōu in October 2007.^[3] The 660,000 square meter plant would cost over €200 million (US$284 million).^[2] With 2,800 employees, the plant has a capacity of 40,000 vehicles a year.^[4] For establishing of the joint venture and building the plant facilities, and the total invested €434,600,000.^{[citation needed]}

Series production of Fujian Daimler's first product range, the Viano transporter, began in April 2010.^[5]

In November, 2011, Sprinter was launched.

Fujian Daimler changed its name to Fujian Benz in March 2012 for better brand recognition among Chinese consumers as Daimler is not as well known as Benz.^[6]^[7]

In March 2013 Fujian Benz opened a new product development center in Fuzhou, constructed at a cost of around RMB 500 million (approximately €60 million).^[8]^[9]^{[dead link]}

In Mar. 2016, Fujian Benz launched three V-Class models, including V260, V260 Exclusive and V260L Exclusive.^[10]

Operations[]

Fujian Benz covers 660,000 square meters, including 330,000 square meters for Phase I and a construction area of 162,000 square meters. The company currently employs 1,600 workers.

The annual production capacity of Phase I is 40,000 units.^[10]^{[dead link]} At one time, China was the largest market of the Viano.^[7]

At its production plant in Qinkou, Fujian Benz operates a product development center which covers approximately 11,000 square meters of built-up area, as well as a 53,000 square meter proving ground including a 1,400 meter circuit.^[9]^{[dead link]} In an industrial park adjacent to the Qinkou production plant, Fujian Benz operates an EMC lab, an exhaust gas test lab, and a chassis dynamometers facility, which cover a combined built-up area of around 8,000 square meters.^[9]^{[dead link]} The product development center, with a total investment of 500 million rmb, was put into operation in 2013.^[10]^{[dead link]}