Mercedes-Benz expands R&D for Chinese market

BEIJING - Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz plans to provide more tailor-made vehicles and technologies to cater to customers' increasing demands in China, the luxury carmaker's third-largest market.

Ulrich Mellinghoff, head of safety development at Mercedes-Benz, said the company will further strengthen its research and development (R&D) capability in China by expanding its small, local R&D team to about 500 engineers.

"We are doing a few models only for China (such as) the stretched version for the E-class (sedans). And, in the future, I think we can have a stretched version for the C-class, too," Mellinghoff said in an interview with China Daily.