Mercedes spends £9.1 million on CV centre
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• Mercedes-Benz (UK) has invested £9. 1 million in its new vehicle preparation centre at Wentworth Park near Barnsley.
The 31.6 hectare centre, is more than twice the size of the old Wakefield facility.
Over the last 13 years since it was established in the UK, Mercedes-Benz UK's annual commercial vehicle sales have increased from less than 2,000 to more than 14,000 to account for 10% of the British market.
Mercedes' recent capital investment programme began at the start of the eighties
with a purpose-built car importation centre at Harwich followed by a new company IIQ at Milton Keynes nearly three years ago, and the subsequent addition of a £1.6 million training centre. Managing director Hans Tauscher says: "The three points of the Daimler-Benz star in Britain stand for Barnsley, Harwich and Milton Keynes."
Wentworth Park, is connected to every British dealer and the factory in Germany via computer terminals.
About 30% of MercedesBenz CVs sold in Britain receive some kind of customer
ordered modification on arrival after the initial quality check.
The modification shop at Wentworth enables the company to offer a much wider range of specification options.
As well as changing axle ratios and up-rating axles on certain models, the workshop handles jobs like fitting fifth wheels, spray suppression equipment and air deflectors, to speed up delivery for the dealers. As a result of moving to the larger premises the company plans to offer up to 100 variations from the standard specification vehicle on every model.