The Washington Inquirer Editor- Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicle Center in Stuttgart to take over sales and servicing of Mercedes-Benz and FUSO trucks and Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses with immediate effect
- With high-voltage and rooftop workstations, the Commercial Vehicle Center is excellently prepared for the future of transportation
- Stina Fagerman, Head of Marketing, Sales and Services at Mercedes-Benz Trucks: “Consistent customer orientation is crucial to the success of Mercedes-Benz Trucks. Our own sales organization plays a decisive role in this. Accordingly, the further development of the Group’s own sales network, now also with its own location in Stuttgart, is an important part of our strategy.”
- Mirko Sgodda, Head of Marketing, Sales and Customer Services Daimler Buses: “The new Commercial Vehicle Center not only marks an important milestone for Daimler Truck, but also for Daimler Buses. We are particularly pleased about the integration of bus services at the Stuttgart site. Firstly, this strengthens our Europe-wide service network, which is the largest bus-specific service network in Europe, and secondly, we are also setting new standards in the maintenance and repair of vehicles with battery and fuel cell technology.”
- Frank Nopper, Lord Mayor of the City of Stuttgart: “With its new commercial vehicle center, Daimler Truck is taking a major step towards the mobility of the future. Stuttgart-Feuerbach will become the central location for the operation and servicing of all types of fully electrified commercial vehicles – trucks, refuse vehicles and buses. This means an enormous improvement in quality for climate-friendly commercial vehicles from Daimler Truck with new and modern workplaces at its headquarters in Stuttgart.”
Stuttgart – Just under a year and a half after the foundation stone was laid, Daimler Truck officially opened the Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicle Center Stuttgart last Friday in the presence of the Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, Frank Nopper. From the outset, the site has been designed for commercial vehicles powered by battery and fuel cell technology.
Covering an area of around 22,000 square meters, the Stuttgart-Feuerbach site now offers sales and servicing for Mercedes-Benz and FUSO trucks as well as services for Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses. The location will also function as a rental base for CharterWay vehicles.
Stina Fagerman, Head of Marketing, Sales and Services at Mercedes-Benz Trucks: “Consistent customer orientation is crucial to the success of Mercedes-Benz Trucks. Our own sales organization plays a decisive role in this. Accordingly, the further development of the Group’s own sales network, now also with its own location in Stuttgart, is an important part of our strategy. Over the past twelve months, we have opened four additional Group-owned commercial vehicle centers: in Haan near Wuppertal, Piacenza and Brescia in Italy and Velký Týnec in the Czech Republic. The construction and expansion of further locations is currently being planned. Specifically, this year we want to open three new locations in Paris, Ruda Śląska near Katowice in Poland and Bratislava in Slovakia. A good relationship with the local dealer is one of the most important purchasing criteria for our customers.”
Mirko Sgodda, Head of Marketing, Sales and Customer Services Daimler Buses: “The new Mercedes-Benz Stuttgart commercial vehicle center not only marks a significant milestone for Daimler Truck, but also for Daimler Buses. We are particularly pleased about the integration of bus services at the Stuttgart site. Firstly, this strengthens our Europe-wide service network, which is the largest bus-specific service network in Europe, and secondly, we are also setting new standards in the maintenance and repair of vehicles with battery and fuel cell technology. Our aim at Daimler Buses is to provide our customers with the best possible support in the transformation to electromobility. We will achieve this through the close integration of a comprehensive service network, the highest level of expertise in future technologies and holistic concepts for the mobility of tomorrow, which we are implementing with Daimler Buses Solutions GmbH.”
Frank Nopper, Lord Mayor of the City of Stuttgart: “With its new commercial vehicle center, Daimler Truck is taking a major step towards the mobility of the future. Stuttgart-Feuerbach will become the central location for the operation and servicing of all types of fully electrified commercial vehicles – trucks, refuse vehicles and buses. This means an enormous improvement in quality for climate-friendly commercial vehicles from Daimler Truck with new and modern workplaces at its headquarters in Stuttgart.”
New site ready for battery and fuel cell vehicles
The new-build site has been excellently prepared for the future of transportation right from the start: For example, high-voltage workstations have been set up to be able to service battery-electric models such as the Mercedes-Benz eActros and eEconic trucks, the FUSO eCanter and the Mercedes-Benz eCitaro city bus. In addition, a state-of-the-art, variably adaptable workstation has been created in Stuttgart for working on the roofs of vehicles – on the truck cab or bus roof. This “rooftop workplace” is particularly relevant for the Mercedes-Benz eCitaro electric city bus, as it carries its batteries on the roof.
At the Feuerbach site, maintenance and repair work on vehicles with hydrogen-based drive technologies was also taken into account from the outset: The workshop has a fully equipped gas workstation with gas sensors and a specific exhaust air system that already meets the requirements for hydrogen. The requirements for discharging hydrogen at what is known as an evaluation station in front of the workshop and the basic refueling required after a workshop visit will be installed by mid-2025. This will make the Stuttgart Commercial Vehicle Center one of the first Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle operations in Germany to meet all the requirements for the repair and maintenance of hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Charging infrastructure for customers and employees
Of course, sufficient electric charging stations have also been planned at the site: for employee and customer cars, a total of six charging stations with twelve charging points; for trucks and buses, there are initially two charging stations with four charging points for charging capacities of up to 300 kilowatts, where customer vehicles can be recharged after the servicing work has been completed as well as the CharterWay rental vehicles. Dynamic load management distribution allows the charging current between the charging points to be controlled as required.
Modern workshop, modern workstations
The new Commercial Vehicle Center was designed according to the latest standards. It offers waiting areas for customers, and the routes for the 60 or so employees are designed to be as short as possible. Where possible, work processes have been digitalized.
The workshop is equipped with two roller test benches for brake testing, a speedometer test bench, a bodywork department and four overhead cranes, e.g. for lifting out motors and gearboxes. Thanks to what is referred to as a truck lift system, a complete truck-trailer combination can be raised in order to carry out work on wheels and brakes, for example, in an ergonomically optimal manner. With two workshop vans, the Feuerbach site takes part in the mobile breakdown service in and around Stuttgart.
Sustainability at the site
A photovoltaic system was installed to supply energy to the site, which has one to two-story buildings and a gross floor area of around 4,600 square meters; it can take on a large part of the energy supply. In combination with the heating of the buildings via heat pumps, the construction project has thus achieved the BEG-40 standard for efficient buildings. This means that it requires no more than 40 percent of the maximum energy requirement stipulated by the Building Energy Act.
Location in Stuttgart-Feuerbach ideal for new commercial vehicle center
The site in the north of Stuttgart is ideally suited for the new location. There are good connections both to the A81 highway, Zuffenhausen junction, and to the B10 expressway between the Neckar River valley and the highway. The same applies to distribution traffic towards the city center. The proximity to the city center also means short distances for city bus customers and saves time for transfers to and from servicing.
