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Sixty years of truck production in Wörth
in July 1965, in the Mercedes-Benz truck plant at Wörth am Rhein, the first complete truck to roll off the production line was a green Mercedes-Benz LP 608.
The then Daimler-Benz AG realigned its commercial vehicle strategy at the beginning of the 1960s. As part of this new plan, production was also reorganised, so the plant in Wörth did not supply only engines, as originally planned, but was designated as the plant for large-scale production of all truck classes.
Pilot production at the Wörth plant began in October 1963, with only around 100 employees, who produced truck cabs that were delivered to the plants in Gaggenau (heavy trucks) and Mannheim (medium and light trucks), for final assembly.
From 1965, Wörth became the focus of complete commercial vehicle production at Mercedes-Benz. The Gaggenau and Kassel sites specialised in the construction of transmissions and axles for trucks, while Mannheim made engines and buses.
Right from the start of production, different model series, from the ‘light Wörther’ to the ‘heavy Wörther’, were mixed along the assembly line. Production was extremely flexible, even back then.
In the 60 years since the start of production, more than 4.4 million trucks have been manufactured in Wörth, including and increasing number of completely knocked down (CKD) vehicle kits that were shipped to overseas markets, for final assembly. Today, more than 800,000 CKD kits are produced annually.
Back in the 1980s, HV’s Allan Whiting was producing his Australian truck buyers guide, TruckSearch Magazine and visited the Wörth plant, where he was impressed by the model mix on the production line.
At that time, Mercedes-Benz didn’t have a lightweight tandem drive that would have suited Australian linehaul work much better than the hub-reduction tandems that were the only dual driving axles that came out of the plant.
In response to AW’s request for such a final drive solution, the then plant manager pointed out that the Wörth plant could produce the entire annual sales for the Australian market in less than one day! Our chance of getting a special build for such small volumes was highly unlikely. (Years later, the lightweight tandem finally arrived Down Under.)
AW also suggested that an in-line, high-torque diesel six would be a better powerplant for Australia than the then Mercedes-Benz V6, V8 and V10 engines, which obviously were well suited for installation in length-restricted European prime movers. That request also took many years to be fulfilled.
Today, the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth produces the Actros, Arocs and Atego models – all with in-line diesels. The Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks Econic, Unimog and Zetros are also built in Wörth.
Series production of the battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros 300/400 started in 2021 and was followed in 2022 by the second Mercedes-Benz eEconic electric series truck for municipal use. At the end of 2024, Daimler Truck celebrated the start of series production of the Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 for long-distance transport in Wörth.
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