Daimler Truck is pressing ahead with the restructuring of its European production. As the company announced on 31 March, a new assembly site is to be built in Cheb in western Czechia. The investment is part of the “Cost Down Europe” savings programme and fits into the trend of shifting production capacity to Central and Eastern Europe.
New plant near the border aims to cut costs
The new site in Cheb is close to the German border and is set to complement the existing production network from the end of the decade. Planned capacity is around 25,000 trucks per year. Daimler Truck intends to invest a low to mid three-digit million amount, with around 1,000 jobs expected to be created.
According to the company, the location offers advantages in terms of cost structure and logistics. CEO Achim Puchert said:
“With our new assembly plant in Cheb, we are strengthening the competitiveness of our production network, with a focus on cost optimisation and complexity management.”
Wörth remains central – production to be reallocated
The Wörth plant on the Rhine will remain the lead and volume plant within the production network. Central functions such as body-in-white, painting and new product ramp-ups will continue to be bundled there.
At the same time, production will be redistributed. Parts of the current volume from Wörth and the Aksaray plant (Turkey) are to be relocated to Czechia in the future.
According to the company, Operations Head Jürgen Distl stressed that the new site would give Wörth “the breathing space it urgently needs”. The background is the growing complexity caused by parallel production of diesel and alternative drivetrains.
Part of a broader trend in the commercial vehicle industry
Daimler Truck’s decision is not an isolated case. For some time now, the industry has been seeing a shift of production capacity to lower-cost EU countries.
For example, MAN has announced that it will relocate parts of its body production from Munich to Kraków. According to company documents, the aim is to achieve substantial savings and secure long-term competitiveness.
The reasons cited include rising energy and labour costs as well as increasing competitive pressure, including from manufacturers from China. At the same time, locations in Central and Eastern Europe are gaining importance because they combine modern infrastructure with comparatively lower costs.
A division-of-labour production model within Europe
Daimler Truck is relying on a division-of-labour model: highly complex manufacturing steps remain in Germany, while assembly-intensive processes are bundled in lower-cost regions.
Painted cabs, for example, will continue to be delivered from Wörth to Cheb. The new site will primarily take over assembly volumes, thereby relieving existing plants.
Works council also sees a strategic necessity
The employee side broadly supports the move, but points to the structural limits of existing sites.
Group works council chair Michael Brecht said:
“The plant in Czechia is part of the required growth strategy.”
The Wörth site is limited in its development due to its high complexity. The expansion is therefore necessary to meet future production requirements.
Production is being redistributed within Europe
With the planned plant in Cheb, Daimler Truck is shifting further production volumes to Eastern Europe.
While key manufacturing steps remain in Germany, assembly-intensive processes are increasingly being relocated to lower-cost regions. The CO2 compliance push also adds to the need to manage parallel drivetrains efficiently. The site near the German border enables close integration between the plants.
