Page 19 - toptruck-magazine

INDUSTRY NEWS

MERCEDES

MERCEDES-BENZ TRUCKS TO INVEST ABOUT V50 MILLION IN
EXPANSION OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND TEST CENTER

Almost ten years after the ceremonial opening of the Development and Testing Center (EVZ) in Wörth am Rhein, Mercedes-Benz
Trucks will invest about another €50 million in the centre of excellence for development work on commercial vehicles. An
additional office and workshop building, a new building housing test benches, as well as parking for test vehicles, will be built
on the premises of the development grounds in Wörth by 2020. At present, some 200 employees from Vehicle Testing and
related test units are working in the EVZ. Once the expansion is completed, it is expected that this will increase to about 350
employees. The centre has numerous rough-road tracks and different roadway profiles that replicate the world’s roads. In
this way, the centre is able to provide the same conditions for the test vehicles as are found in South America, South Korea,
Africa, and, of course, in Europe.

ECONOMY

CHINA’S GEELY TURNS
TO VOLVO TRUCKS

China’s Geely Holding, owner of the Volvo car brand, is buying an
8.2% stake in Swedish truck-maker AB Volvo from activist investor
Cevian Capital, worth around $3.3 billion at current market prices.
Geely’s expertise in the Chinese market, and their skills in developing
electric and autonomous vehicles, should help the truck-maker to
expand, although there are no plans to reunite with Volvo Cars,
which was split from AB Volvo in 1999.

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