MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos Automotive has acquired the manufacturing facility at Hambach from Mercedes-Benz and will start to build its Grenadier 4x4 there in late 2021, said the company.
The acquisition secures the future of the site and safeguards many jobs that might otherwise have been lost. Hambach is the ideal facility for production of the Grenadier.
One of Europe’s most modern automotive manufacturing sites, it is home to a highly experienced and capable workforce, has an excellent track record amongst Mercedes plants for the quality of its output, and recently benefited from a major investment to enable the production of larger vehicles. Additionally the site’s location on the German-French border, only 200km from Stuttgart, gives excellent access to supply chains, automotive talent and target markets. Manufacturing at Hambach ensures that INEOS remains on track to meet its plans to deliver the Grenadier to customers in early 2022.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Mercedes-Benz will contract INEOS to continue to produce the smart EQ fortwo and some Mercedes-Benz components at Hambach. When combined with INEOS's plans for the Grenadier, this translates into some 1,300 jobs at Hambach, including commitments to onsite suppliers.
Dirk Heilmann, Chief Executive Officer of INEOS Automotive, commented: "This acquisition marks our biggest milestone yet in the development of the Grenadier. Alongside the exhaustive testing programme that our prototype vehicles are now undergoing, we can now begin preparations at Hambach to build our 4x4 from late next year for delivery to our customers around the globe."
As MRC informed earlier, Ineos Oxide, an Ineos subsidiary, has declared force majeure on propylene output from one of the two steam crackers at Dormagen. This declaration was not confirmed by Ineos. There are two steam crackers at Dormagen, one with a capacity of 670,000 metric tons/year and another with a capacity of 530,000 metric tons/year.
Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
Ineos Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC