MOTORING NEWS - The first unit of the locally produced Mercedes-Benz AMG C 63 rolled off the production line in East London last week.
At its annual business results in 2017, Mercedes-Benz South Africa announced that three Mercedes-AMG models would be manufactured locally for export and local sales.
This week the employees who participated in the ramp-up to series production celebrated achieving this goal.
The integration of the three new models (Mercedes-AMG C 43 4MATIC, Mercedes-AMG C 63 and Mercedes-AMG C 63 S), went well with minimal interruption to current production.
Mercedes-Benz South Africa invested an additional R200-million into the passenger car manufacturing facility in 2016 and 2017 for production of the AMG models.
Andreas Engling, Mercedes-Benz South Africa CEO and executive director of manufacturing, says, "The production of the first Mercedes-Benz AMG C 63 unit here in East London, sees another exciting model added to our current C-Class family and further affirms the status of our plant as a key player in the Daimler global network.
"The distinct sportiness and power of the AMG brand is well recognised globally. We are proud that the C 63 model will be exported from our shores to customers all around the world.
"Following the launch of the Mercedes-AMG C 43 model in 2017, the first production unit of the flagship C 63 model is another great success for our plant, and is testament to the hard work and dedication of our employees who continue to build world-class products at Mercedes-Benz South Africa."
The introduction of these AMG models into the Mercedes-Benz South Africa production line required the plant to bring in new infrastructure and technological innovations to accommodate the assembly of the performance models. .
The new AMG model with V8 power is particularly distinguished by its notable engine sound and power, and to achieve the successful production of this unit, new equipment had to be added to the assembly process.
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