Page 24 - Newcom

CROSS-BORDER
Amazon makes big commitment during grand opening of U.S. Sprinter plant
By Derek Clouthier
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
The Sept. 5 grand opening of
the new Sprinter plant in North Charleston was met with some added good news for Mercedes- Benz Vans, with Amazon announcing it will take delivery of 20,000 units over the course of the coming year.
Pricing for the 2019 Sprinter vans was also released, with starting costs ranging from US$33,790 for
a four cylinder, 2.0-liter gasoline option to the 4x4 crew van, six cyl- inder, 3.0-liter turbo diesel Sprinter at US$56,790.
Mercedes-Benz Vans invited media from Canada, the U.S., and overseas to Charleston, S.C., for a tour of the newly opened manufac- turing plant, as well as a test drive of the new Sprinter.
The 2019 VS30 Sprinter will for the first time be built in the U.S. for the American market, which, as Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans pointed out, is the van’s second largest market in the world. Of the approximate
400,000 units the company sold worldwide last year, around 44,000 were destined for the U.S. and Canada.
Mornhinweg said North American demand for the Sprinter was a big factor into why the company chose to call South Carolina home for the new plant.
“Building a full-scale production plant in this market makes perfect sense,” said Mornhinweg during the grand opening ceremony. “With the new, state-of-the-art produc- tion site in South Carolina, we will be able to supply our customers
in North America even faster and with more flexibility in the future. The new plant in North Charleston combines our global expertise and experience resulting in a state-of- the-art facility in every respect. It is a valuable asset that completes our global production network. Our pri- ority at Mercedes-Benz Vans during the planning process for this facil- ity was maximum flexibility. This enables us to react in an agile and anticipatory manner to current developments and customer desires. Additionally, it guarantees
Amazon announced it will need 20,000 new Sprinter vans over the next 12 months during a grand opening ceremony of the new Sprinter plant in North Charleston, S.C., Sept. 5.
Inside the Sprinter manufacturing plant.
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excellent quality within our proven, standardized production system.” The company invested approxi- mately US$500 million into build-
ing the plant. Currently, more than 900 people are employed at the location, with the number expected to rise to 1,300 by 2020.
Amazon’s need for 20,000 Sprinter vans comes on the heels of the company’s announcement of its new Delivery Service Partner program, where anyone can apply to become an Amazon-branded delivery driver and can lease up to 40 vans to deliver packages from warehouses to homes.
“We’re proud to partner with Mercedes-Benz Vans to contrib-
ute to local economies through the order of Amazon-branded Sprinter vans produced at their new plant in North Charleston,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice-president of worldwide operations. “Thanks to the tremendous response to Amazon’s new Delivery Service Partner program, we are excited to increase our original order of branded Sprinter vans to 20,000 vehicles so new small businesses will have access to a cus- tomized fleet to power deliveries of Amazon packages.”
Clark said the program, which was announced last June, is expanding to more U.S. cities, but at this time has not been rolled out in Canada.
The 222-acre Sprinter plant site includes a multitude of facilities, including a body shop, paint shop,
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24 TruckWest•October2018