Mercedes-Benz Vans will invest more than 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) to build its first electric-only vans plant in Jawor, Poland, pending approval of conditions such as the sign-off of subsidies for its investment, the company said on Monday.
The van maker, a division of Mercedes-Benz, has signed a declaration of intent with the Polish government and other partners to add the van factory to its Jawor site where it makes combustion engines and batteries for Mercedes-Benz Cars.
The plant will be the fourth in Mercedes-Benz´s European van production network, which it is reorganising towards producing only fully-electric vans built on the VAN.EA platform.
A possible expansion of the plant through a joint venture with U.S. electric van maker Rivian would no longer take place because the U.S. firm had reprioritised its planned projects, the statement said, confirming a statement by Rivian.
The companies had said in September they were planning a joint venture to produce electric vans in a factory in Poland, Hungary or Romania within the next few years, but Rivian said on Monday it would focus on its consumer business and existing commercial business.
($1 = 0.9482 euros)
(Reporting by Tristan Chabba in Gdansk and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw, Victoria Waldersee in Berlin, editing by Rachel More and Louise Heavens)
