OREANDA-NEWS. The first Mercedes-Benz A-Class rolled off the line at the production specialist Valmet Automotive in Uusikaupunki. Production of customer vehicles thus started according to plan about 13 months after the contract manufacturing agreement was announced.

Andreas Renschler, member of the Daimler Board of Management responsible for Manufacturing and Procurement Mercedes-Benz Cars & Mercedes-Benz Vans: "Our new compacts are very successful - we will now be able to serve high customer demand even better. Valmet Automotive is complementing our flexible production network of the plants in Rastatt and Kecskemet in an optimal way. Thanks to these additional capacities for the A-Class, our core plant in Rastatt can at the same time optimally prepare for its third production model - the GLA - which is due soon."

Commenting on the intensive joint preparations for the start of production and on further cooperation with Valmet Automotive in the next years, Renschler added: "We have found the ideal partner for this project with Valmet Automotive. As a production specialist, Valmet Automotive reliably fulfils the high requirements in terms of processes and especially quality which globally apply to the production of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars."

Risto Hukkanen, Senior Vice President Manufacturing Services, Valmet Automotive: "The launch of contract manufacturing of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class is an important milestone in the history of Valmet Automotive. Daimler is the inventor of the automobile and one of the world's most successful automotive companies, and we are pleased to be part of the success story of the A-Class as their manufacturing partner."

Production at Valmet Automotive's plant in Uusikaupunki is contiuously being ramped up following the start of production and will be flexibly adjusted in close consultations between Daimler and Valmet to meet the respective required output from the current year on through 2016. In total, more than 100,000 A-Class vehicles are planned to roll off the line in Uusikaupunki.

Valmet Automotive and Daimler will present the A-Class contract manufacturing to guests from the areas of politics, economy, administration and media in September 2013 with an official celebration at the Uusikapunki plant.