The German automaker Mercedes is now planning to construct a new €1.3 billion electric van factory in Poland after the company signed an agreement with the Polish government to build the plant in Jawor in western Poland.
The Jawor production facility will be the first Mercedes factory in Poland but also the first factory to produce exclusively electric delivery vehicles for Mercedes. These vans will be built using a completely new Mercedes-Benz Vans Electric Architecture (VAN.EA).
The German investment is a part of a grand plan that envisions the company’s complete transition to electric vehicles.
“The decision to select Jawor is the next milestone on the way to electromobility,” said Mathias Geisen, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Vans.
Mercedes’ new factory will be located in proximity to the existing car engine and battery factory in Jawor and will be connected to the A4 highway and S3 expressway.
The new plant is expected to create 2,500 new jobs and will launch production by 2025, when Mercedes will introduce electric vans in medium and large segments on the market.
“The perspective for the next five to ten years is very good,” stated Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The German investment amounts to the largest foreign investment in Poland in recent years. For comparison, Volkswagen invested €800 million in its Crafter factory in the Wielkopolska region, but that is still €400 million short of the latest Mercedes investment.
The Polish Investment and Trade Agency calculated that foreign companies invested over €3.5 billion in Poland in 2021, which is €800 million more than in the previous year and €700 million more than in 2019, which was a record-setting year. South Korea, Germany, and the U.S. invested the most.
