Daimler borrows from Chinese banks for local production of Mercedes Benz sedans
Beijing Benz-Daimler Chrysler Automotive Co. has secured a loan of 3.6 billion yuan ($527.1 million) from a local banking consortium to fund the local production of its C and E class Mercedes Benz sedans.
E300, Mercedes Benz sedans
The banking consortium consists of nine major Chinese commercial banks such as Bank of Communications and China Minsheng Banking Corp., reported the official Xinhua news agency.
Mercedes Benz currently produces the E class and C class in China. In July this year, the ninth generation of the Mercedes Benz E class was launched in China as an imported model.
At an interview with Automotive News China in July, Guenter Butschek, president and CEO of Beijing Benz Daimler Chrysler, said local production of the new E class sedan will start in China in 2010.
Test production of the new car is scheduled to begin in October, he said.
He also said more than 500 parts have been locally sourced for the new E class. As a result, the new car will have a local content rate of more than 40 percent after it is built in China.
In the first eight months of this year, sales of Mercedes Benz sedans in China including the Smart and Maybach reached 37,800 units, up 50 percent from the year-earlier period, according to statistics released by Mercedes Benz (China).
