Let us listen to Li Shan from Mercedes-Benz Network Development Department share his feelings about the rollout of localized Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty trucks and the development layout

Now let us jointly witness the launch ceremony for the first day of production

Cui Zhongfu, Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, stated in his speech that China's commercial vehicle market ranks first globally and has formed a unique industrial system. Currently, the domestic commercial vehicle industry is at a critical period of transformation and upgrading. Logistics efficiency is continuously optimizing, and the total number of commercial vehicles is gradually shrinking. The industry faces an upgrade from quantity to quality. Intelligent logistics is developing rapidly, and the pace of green transformation is accelerating. Commercial vehicle enterprises are upgrading from product improvers to providers of overall logistics solutions. Along with consumption upgrading, the vehicle needs of the logistics industry are also changing. The market has increasingly high requirements for commercial vehicle driving experience. Commercial vehicle enterprises should seize this development opportunity and pay attention to the demand for mid-to-high-end commercial vehicles. This is not only the most fiercely contested market in the future but also an important track targeted by Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty truck localization. Faced with such enormous market demand and broad development prospects, we are pleased to see that Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty trucks have taken the lead in implementing localization. This will not only increase benefits for logistics and transportation enterprises but also provide drivers with safe and comfortable vehicle experiences, effectively promoting the upgrading and replacement of heavy-duty truck equipment in the transportation market. The commercial vehicle industry has many participants. During the current critical period of industry transformation, all parties should jointly create a favorable development environment. It is hoped that with the rollout of the first Mercedes-Benz localized heavy-duty truck, Mercedes-Benz trucks will continue to move forward without stopping, solidly advancing the development process of high-end heavy-duty truck localization on the competitive arena representing the industry's highest technological level, and helping China's logistics accelerate in speed and increase in efficiency.

Fu Bingfeng, Executive Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, stated in his speech that commercial vehicles, as important equipment for transportation, are an important support for China's logistics transportation and a basic guarantee for economic construction. In particular, heavy-duty truck products are core equipment for the economic artery of road transportation, and their product quality and performance profoundly affect the efficiency of China's road transportation. As China's physical transportation industry gradually develops toward standardization, containerization, greening, and high efficiency, the market has put forward higher requirements for heavy-duty truck models in terms of reliability, efficiency, energy conservation, environmental protection, total cost of ownership, and after-sales service guarantees. Against this background, China's high-end heavy-duty truck market has maintained a relatively high compound growth rate, showing enormous development potential. For enterprises and the industry, this is both a challenge to respond to market demand and an opportunity to embrace high-quality development in the future. The official rollout of Mercedes-Benz localized heavy-duty truck products will inject new vitality and bring new momentum to China's high-end heavy-duty truck market. China has the world's largest commercial vehicle market and is fertile ground for the development of world-class commercial vehicle enterprises. The localized production of Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty trucks also heralds a new chapter in Sino-foreign joint venture commercial vehicle cooperation. As a leading enterprise in the commercial vehicle industry, Mercedes-Benz has many years of deep accumulation in production and manufacturing technology, manufacturing management systems, and quality control systems. By further deepening cooperation with Chinese partners, integrating excellent technology, reliability, efficiency, and safety performance with insights into the Chinese market, and fully leveraging the unique advantages of the localized industrial chain and service system, we believe Mercedes-Benz will bring high-quality products that meet the needs of the Chinese market and customers, promote the transformation and upgrading of China's heavy-duty truck industry. Currently, China's commercial vehicle industry is exploring multiple low-carbon development paths and, combined with actual operating scenarios, is attempting various technology routes such as battery-swap heavy-duty trucks, hydrogen fuel cells, and hydrogen internal combustion engines. Commercial applications of intelligent trucks are also developing in parallel. L3-level trucks have been successfully operated in some specific scenarios, accumulating valuable experience. In the future, China's automotive industry will lead the global automotive industry toward green, low-carbon, and intelligent development. World-class automotive enterprises will obtain development opportunities in China and enter a new era of development hand in hand with China's logistics and transportation industry. It is hoped that Mercedes-Benz will continue to deeply cultivate the domestic market in the future, explore international markets, and build Beijing Foton Daimler into a new benchmark for high-level cooperation in China's commercial vehicle industry.

Mr. Karl Deppen, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck Holding AG, responsible for Asia business, also sent us his blessings from the banks of the Rhine.

Chang Rui, Party Committee Secretary and Chairman of Beiqi Foton Automobile Co., Ltd., stated in his speech that in 2012, after an eight-year marathon, Foton Daimler embarked on a new journey of joint venture cooperation and established Foton Daimler. Since its establishment, Foton's market cost advantages and Daimler's technology and brand advantages have released tremendous energy, continuously leading the development of China's high-end heavy-duty trucks. Foton Daimler has also actively absorbed the concepts, systems, and experience of both shareholders, successively launching high-end heavy-duty trucks such as Auman EST and Galaxy, and has become a benchmark for development with a full lineup of AMT offerings. The shareholders launched the high-end heavy-duty truck project in 2014. Since its inception, the H6 project has been anchored in "Built in China, Exclusive to China." It is a high-end heavy-duty truck product meticulously developed based on China's operating condition characteristics and customers' exclusive needs. In addition to adopting Mercedes-Benz's latest technology, both parties conducted nearly four years of research on product planning, committed to providing Chinese customers with high-end heavy-duty truck products featuring leading technology, reliable quality, driving safety, and optimal total cost of ownership. TA will not only directly promote Foton Daimler's optimization of its product portfolio structure and enhance its core competitiveness and operating capabilities, but will also help Daimler further improve its global market layout and achieve steady development. The rollout of the H6 product demonstrates the strength and confidence of both Foton Automobile and Daimler in basing themselves in China while facing the global market. China's leading heavy-duty truck enterprises are accelerating the upgrade of high-end products, new forces in vehicle manufacturing are strongly entering the new energy heavy-duty truck field, and the industry landscape is being rapidly restructured. Future competition will be even more intense.

Dr. Holger Scherr, President and CEO of Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive Co., Ltd., stated in his speech that from blueprint to reality, from concept to design, and now to the present products and factory, we have always been continuously advancing and striving for excellence. At this moment, we are witnessing the rollout of Mercedes-Benz's first domestically produced heavy-duty truck, which is expected to be delivered to customers in November. At that time, the value goal of "in China for China" will be truly realized. Currently, China's logistics industry is developing toward efficiency, conservation, low carbon, and intelligence. The market and customers have increasingly strong demand for high-end products. Now is the best time for Mercedes-Benz to enter China's high-end market. At the same time, thanks to the solid foundation of China's manufacturing industry, our localization process in China has been greatly accelerated. We firmly believe that our value proposition will also become the key to our success in the market. With advanced technology, exceptional reliability, benchmark TCO performance, and outstanding uptime, we provide efficient solutions for our users' vision and help customers succeed. Today, our new factory is about to begin new production tasks. This is an important moment for Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty trucks. For Foton Daimler, this is undoubtedly a crucial milestone. The new factory covers an area of over 400,000 square meters, with a total investment of over 3.8 billion yuan. It boasts multiple leading technologies with a designed annual production capacity of 60,000 vehicles. Our highly flexible welding production line has 148 robots with an automation level close to 100%, featuring modular standard orientation, carbon fiber robotic grippers, and AGV automatic vehicles for automatic conveyance. The painting workshop is designed according to the non-contact principle, achieving complete automation. This workshop is environmentally friendly, applying the latest powder coatings and water-based paints. Most importantly, we have also installed the most advanced exhaust gas and wastewater treatment systems, ensuring extremely low emissions from the factory, far below strict regulatory emission limits. The layout of the final assembly line realizes the principles of lean production. This production line is equipped with automatic screw torque control devices that can track torque. In addition, it is equipped with online testing devices that can test all software and mechatronic functions. The final line is equipped with a light measuring machine for measuring multiple parameters and conducting final tests before products are delivered to customers. All production facilities are equipped with the latest inspection systems. Our quality management follows the strictest Mercedes-Benz standards, with production indicators adopting a four-channel inspection loop method to promptly detect quality issues during the production process. Mercedes-Benz engineers were deeply involved in the design of the new factory. Thirty experienced manufacturing experts from Germany and Turkey provided us with detailed on-site guidance and training. All our efforts are aimed at fulfilling one mission: to 100% embody Mercedes-Benz's ultimate pursuit of trucks.