Mercedes-Benz Begins A-Class Production In Hungary

The world has waited long enough for the latest generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class and they're finally rolling off the line. First production started a couple of weeks ago in Germany, and Hungary has followed suit with the first A-Class models coming off of their production lines as well. 

A bit of a mouthful, the particular Mercedes-Benz production site in Hungary is in Kecskemét, just 90 kilometres to the south of Budapest. As part of a new tradition among Mercedes-Benz production sites, apprentices from the Rastatt plant over in Germany produced a 3D-printed steering wheel with a screen on which they uploaded messages, which was sent to the Kecskemét plant and will be sent on to other plants around the world as they begin A-Class production.

This fourth-generation A-Class is the first to be produced in Hungary, replacing the B-Class, and joining the CLA and CLA Shooting Brake models also produced at Kecskemét. For the new compact car generation a new body-in-white shop covering an area of 99,000 m2 equipped with state-of-the-art technologies was built at the Kecskemét plant. As part of the total invest, there were also upgrades to the existing plant. For example, new robots for surface treatment were installed. 

The Mercedes-Benz plant in Kecskemét has about 4.000 employees. In 2017, it produced more than 190,000 Mercedes-Benz compact vehicles. The first model to roll off the line in Kecskemét was the Mercedes-Benz B-Class in 2012. It was followed by the four-door CLA compact coupe in 2013 and by the CLA Shooting Brake in 2015. Both of these models are produced exclusively in Kecskemét for the world market.