Mercedes-Benz Korea makes large investments to expand infrastructure
Mercedes-Benz Korea announced the expansion and relocation of its Jungrang Showroom, as well as opening a service center at the showroom to provide improved accessibility and convenience for customers in the northeastern part of Seoul.
The new Mercedes-Benz exhibition and service center in Jungrang district, northeastern Seoul. Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Korea
As a single brand, Mercedes-Benz Korea operates the largest scale of service infrastructure among imported auto brands in Korea. With the opening of the Jungrang Service Center, the company currently operates 73 authorized service centers nationwide, with more than 1,200 workbays.
Compared to 2014, the number of service centers has nearly doubled, providing higher quality services.
The company's 52-billion-won vehicle component logistics center was established in 2014, but to enhance service quality and customer satisfaction, an additional 35 billion won was injected, doubling the size. Previously, the facility was able to hold 28,000 types of vehicle components, but has been expanded to maintain and manage 50,000, with a supply rate of 99 percent for key components.
The investment of 87 billion won into the logistics center led to the creation of jobs and the revitalization of the local economy.
Also in 2014, the German automaker opened an R&D center in Korea. And in 2018, it doubled its office space and hired more than twice the research personnel, becoming a key player in aiding the company's future mobility sector.
Germany's Daimler headquarters has been partnering with local companies in diverse automotive fields including: displays, batteries and Heating, Venting & Air Conditioning Systems (HVAC). As a result, over the last decade, the number of local partner firms has nearly doubled, while the supply volume rose close to tenfold. The company plans to expand partnerships with competitive local firms further, to improve the local automotive industry.
Mercedes-Benz Korea has been investing in supporting the local community through providing automotive education and offering human resource development programs.
The company has also been involved in numerous social contribution projects, including “Ausbildung,” a program that allows high school graduates to study and work in the automotive field at the same time, as well as the Mercedes-Benz Mobile Academy, which teaches the company's superior technology and knowhow to local college students in automotive field majors.
For college graduates, there is the Automotive Mechatronics Traineeship program, which aims to foster car maintenance professionals. The three programs provide different age groups with learning opportunities to transition better into the automotive fields and to foster next-generation maintenance personnel.