Daimler recently announced plans to build a Research and Development Tech Center China with a total investment of over 1.1 billion RMB (approximately 145 million EUR). This marks the further expansion of the company’s footprint in its single largest market and will be its second major R&D site in Beijing, following the Mercedes-Benz R&D Center established in 2014.
Located on the premises of the local production hub Beijing Benz Automotive Co. Ltd. (BBAC), the R&D Tech Center will allow Daimler to accelerate the localization of new Mercedes-Benz products in China. Scheduled to start operations in 2020, the R&D Tech Center’s proximity to the production hub will enable the integrated campus concept of local production with R&D, through the existing pilot plant, test track and test benches at BBAC, together and new test labs and workshops at the R&D Tech Center for testing in new energy vehicle technology, powertrain and chassis, emissions and invehicle air quality.
Covering a gross floor area of 55,000 m2, the Daimler R&D Tech Center China will consist of a test building and an office building. The office building with a canteen and social areas will be capable of accommodating up to 600 employees, while the two-story test building will include a warehouse and parking area for 250 test vehicles. It will house a widearray of cutting-edge test facilities for overall vehicle and component testing, ranging from electric drive and charging, powertrain, chassis, in-vehicle air quality, emission to noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), as well as a consolidated workshop for all functions including overall vehicle and endurance testing. New test labs will have the capacity to carry out a wide-range of basic to complex tests, such as system calibration, durability and thermodynamics. The facilities will incorporate road simulators and climate simulation, making testing as accurate and as optimized as possible.
