It may have taken Mercedes-Benz around 120 years to reach 1m cars per year, breaching the mark around the turn of the 21^stcentury. However, the recent surge in growth of the brand has seen it rise by around 1m units in sales and production in just five years, with passenger car output at around 2.4m in 2017, helping it to regain the global luxury crown from BMW.

Such expansion can cause problems in the supply chain and strain plant capacity – something Markus Schäfer, member of the divisional board of Mercedes-Benz Cars for production and supply chain, does not deny. For logistics, the expansion has helped bring attention right to the top table where Schäfer sits in terms of cost and performance. “Logistics is becoming more and more important for us,” he said at a small roundtable meeting involving Automotive Logistics at the Geneva motor show recently.