Coinciding with production of the first showroom-ready redesigned M-Class SUV at the Mercedes-Benz Tuscaloosa plant (Mercedes-Benz US International or MBUSI) in Alabama, Daimler said it was spending over US$2bn building the new model plus the next generation GL-and C-Class, and expanding capacity.
From 2014, the Tuscaloosa plant, as confirmed in December 2009, will also produce the next C-Class for North American as one of the four global production locations alongside ‘mother plant Bremen in Germany, East London, South Africa and Beijing Benz in China.
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Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche said: “Tuscaloosa was the first production location of Mercedes-Benz Cars ever outside Germany, and today it is among our best. As our ‘pioneering plant,’ it is also the blueprint for our new operations in emerging markets.”
MBUSI chief Markus Schaefer said: “Demand for the M-Class in our 14 years of production has clearly surpassed all our expectations – in terms of sales, customer loyalty, and popularity.”
The Tuscaloosa plant was founded in 1995 and started production in 1997. The M-Class was its first product and has been built there ever since, joined later by GL- and R-Class. In 2010, the plant produced around 125,000 vehicles with 2,800 workers.
Tuscaloosa was hit by tornadoes last 27 April and MBUSI this week announced an additional $100,000 donation to relief efforts on top of $1m contributed in May.
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By GlobalDataMercedes to build C-class in US
