Mercedes-Benz South Africa received confirmation on Tuesday of a new R2 billion ($290 million) investment, according to a statement released by the company.

The investment will prepare the East London factory for production of the next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class starting in 2014, Daimler said in a statement today.

The plant, along with facilities in Germany, China and the U.S., will build the new C-Class, the company’s most popular passenger model.

"Daimler AG is delighted to include South Africa among the four manufacturing locations around the world to build the next-generation C-Class”.

Mercedes SA chief executive Hansgeorg Niefer said in a statement : "In the first quarter of next year, we should reach the half-a-million mark of C-Class vehicles produced locally since 1994, which marked the model's start of production in South Africa”.

The three other Mercedes-Benz plants selected to produce the next-generation C-Class are located in Germany, China and the USA.

Daimler, the world’s second-largest maker of luxury vehicles, has invested more than 5 billion rand in South Africa over the past 10 years and the East London plant recently exported its 100,000th C-Class model, according to today’s statement.

The South African plant will manufacture left-and right-hand drive C-Class models for export to the rest of Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

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