GERMAN automaker Daimler AG plans to build Mercedes Benz-branded heavy trucks in China by revamping truck plants owned by its local joint venture, according to a document seen and sources familiar with the matter.

The plan will deepen the alliance between Daimler and its Chinese truck joint venture partner, Beiqi Foton Co., and comes after the purchase of a 5 percent stake in Daimler last month by its Mercedes Benz passenger car partner, Beijing Automotive Group Co. (BAIC), Foton’s parent group.

“Localization of Mercedes Benz-branded trucks had been planned years before, so it has nothing to do with BAIC Group’s recent stake purchase in Daimler,” one source said.

In 2016, Daimler’s then head of its truck business said that it planned to make Mercedes Benz-branded Actros heavy trucks in China by the end of the decade. No details of the plan has since been reported or announced.

Under the plan, Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive (BFDA) will add Actros to its production lines which are mainly used to make Auman trucks, the joint venture’s sole truck brand, the sources said.

The joint venture plans to revamp its No.3 plant, which will have an annual capacity of 60,000 heavy trucks, and expand capacity at its No.2 plant to 100,000 units from 60,000 now, according to a document on the joint venture’s website. The value of the investment was not known. (SD-Agencies)