The Vitoria Factory
The scene of the crime was at the company’s plant in Vitoria, located in the Basque region of Spain.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
The plant specializes in manufacturing Mercedes-Benz vans, including the popular V-Class models, and is actually the second-largest van factory on the planet.
Quite the Operation
The Vitoria facility is certainly quite a large operation. It was founded in 1954, produces 170,000 cars every year, and currently employs more than 5,000 people.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
One of those people was an unnamed 38-year-old man; though it wasn’t publicly announced what his job was at the plant or why he was let go, the rest of his story made headlines as it was so shocking.
Breaking Down the Gate
In order to get into the Vitoria plant, the ex-employee first needed to break down the locked metal gate.
Source: @DaniAlvarezEiTB
Which he easily did with a front loader or bulldozer that he apparently stole beforehand.
Making His Way Through the Inventory
Although the man hasn’t been interviewed, it is quite clear that he had a plan in place when he arrived.
Source: @DaniAlvarezEiTB
The unnamed assailant apparently drove the bulldozer deeper into the factory and began making his way toward the hundreds of vans they had on site.
The Bulldozer Certainly Made a Mess
By driving the bulldozer around the factory, the disgruntled employee was able to easily and quickly destroy more than 50 of the plant’s newly made vans.
Source: @DaniAlvarezEiTB
There are only a few photographs of the catastrophe, but they show just what kind of wrecking the machine was able to do.
The Gouging, Flipping, and Smashing Happened in Minutes
The ex-employee ran directly into several vans, smashing them to pieces. He also ripped several vehicles apart and even flipped a few over.
Source: @DaniAlvarezEiTB
In fact, in one photo it’s clear that the employee was able to pick up one of the vans and flip it onto another van, clearly destroying both of them.
It Appears the Criminal Didn’t Ruin Any of the Expensive Machinery
The factory reported that while more than 50 vehicles were wrecked beyond repair, it seemed that the ex-employee didn’t make the time to attack the expensive machinery they use to make the vans.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
Which, of course, is quite the silver lining as it meant that the factory could continue functioning at full capacity the very next day.
Many Mercedes-Benz Aficionados Are Grateful There Weren’t Any Specialty Vehicles Ruined
Mercedes-Benz has designed and manufactured some incredible cars over the years, and many automobile aficionados collect their fantastic vehicles.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
And when they heard of the immense destruction, many noted that they were grateful that there were only new vans at the plant.
The 50 Destroyed Vans Were Worth Thousands of Dollars Each
Although they weren’t necessarily Mercedes-Benz’s most expensive or exotic cars, the 50 vans destroyed were still worth quite a lot of money.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
In fact, each of the vans was worth several hundred thousand dollars, so the total destruction added up to several million dollars.
Daimler Spokesperson Reported the Attack Could Have Been Worse
Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, spoke out after the incident and explained that they believe the situation could have been much worse.
Source: Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images
As more than 5,000 people work at the factory, Daimler is simply glad that no one was there at the time, and therefore, no one was hurt.
Mercedes-Benz Is Doing Just Fine
Luckily, even though millions of dollars of vehicles were destroyed by their ex-employee, Mercedes-Benz is such a big company that it didn’t really affect its annual profits.
Source: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
And because none of the machinery was ruined in the chaos, the 5,000 people who work at the Vitoria factory were able to get straight back to work the next day.