The sale of Mercedes-Benz to the Prestige group gave the brand great momentum produces sprinters in the country and sells luxury cars, since then run by former Toyota, Daniel Herrero.
Since the change, various news was reported earlier this year, such as: Keep prices frozen for several months or so They will refund the money to customers when the internal tax is abolished.
Now, a few days before the end of 2025, he inaugurated new visitor center at the plant in the city of Virrey del Pino, Buenos Aires, an event designed to take stock of its six months of management and talk about the future.
Among the novelties, it plans to increase production, introduce a new brand in the country and also participate in new production projects of other companies that want to establish themselves in Argentina.
New Mercedes-Benz visitor center
The new Mercedes-Benz room has approx 300 m2 and his goal is to bring the plant closer to the community.
“This visitor center marks the beginning of a new phase in our relationship with all our stakeholders: our employees, unions, dealers, suppliers and of course our customers. It is a space designed to listen to each other, have dialogue and build the future of our company together. In a second phase We will open our doors to the general publicand invites everyone to get to know a plant from the inside In 2026 the country will celebrate 75 years of history“, explained Herrero.
Mercedes Benz will increase Sprinter production.
Among much information provided by the executive branch, he confirmed this in Versions of the Sprinter will be produced in 2026 with automatic transmission and 4×4 drive. He also announced that negotiations are underway to export the commercial vehicle to markets such as the USA and Mexico.
Another important point in Herrero’s statements is that they are Increase production by 25% and they will wear that Production volume at 20,000 units. In this scenario, they do not rule out the use of three production shifts.
On the other hand, he expects that some automotive companies will inquire postpone free trade with Brazilscheduled for 2029. This date coincides with the end of the agreement with the German automaker.
From 2030, unless the deadline is extended, Prestige must have another industrial project to replace the license granted to it by its parent company to produce the Sprinter in Argentina.
Although he did not provide details, Herrero said he expects several factory creation projects to be explored before 2029. He also predicted that the overall vehicle market would grow by 2026 and estimated that this could be the case Reach 700,000 units.
“We already have it in December firm export orders over 11,000 units. Therefore we go from 16,000 to 20,000 units. Next year, 70% of our business will be exports. We see a market that can grow and will be closely linked to the loans that may exist. “I think we can reach 700,000 units,” Herrero said.
In terms of how he managed to increase the external sales, He explained: “We went to the dealers and told them that if they gave us more volume we would reduce the price and that enabled us to get export orders for 11,000 units in December. We did the same in the domestic market. We maintained the fixed price of the Sprinter for five months with the intention of challenging the volume and achieving long-term sustainability.”
Regarding the possibility of Export to North America, The president of Prestige thought about it Sprinter 19+1 seats (a product he considered very Argentine), “we can enter markets like Mexico and the United States and, why not, also some markets in Africa. If you see the transition to electric vehicles, it will be slower in Africa and we will perhaps have a small place to do complex work that is not manufactured in the United States.”
Industry reforms
He also referred to the Impact of labor reform in the industry: “In our case, labor reform is not so crucial. It affects the entire value chain. For an SME it may be different. In such cases, when hiring an additional person, they need to make sure what contingent liabilities they have. This will help an SME.” As far as layoffs go, that’s not something I typically think about for an automaker. If you want to grow, you need trained personnel near the facility so as not to have transportation problems.“.
Some terminals are analyzing the request to the government to negotiate with Brazil to postpone free trade planned for 2029. Herrero confirmed this information and justified his position: “Argentina and Brazil are interdependent.
“Today it is more or less polarized which industry there is on both sides: commercial in Argentina, passenger in Brazil. There is of course one Brazil’s volume could have advantages over Argentinabut they are two markets that need each other and that can complement each other through collaboration. I wouldn’t have any problems. A Mercosur agreement would not be decisive, but this regional work has allowed the industry to grow. If you ask me if I can compete with Chinese brands, I say yes. What happens is that we have to ask that they allow us to compete on a level playing field. When you have to pay gross income, safety and sanitation tax, check tax and withholdings on exports and have to compete with a Chinese brand that offers export incentives, things get difficult. Whether we can be equal is another matter. As an industry, Argentina exports 300,000 to 400,000 cars annually. That means we are good in terms of quality and price.”
Regarding the news for 2026, Herrero announced that “We are making progress on some projects. The one for the Sprinter with automatic transmission will be released in February, the 4×4 in February or March. In this context, the first thing I would like to see is export to the United States. A large volume market. It would open a big door for us. Next year we will bring the Maybach brand and we are analyzing the return of the Smart brand,” he confirmed.
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