Mercedes will use that $1.3 billion investment to build a new body shop that will cover 1.3-million square feet, expand the plant’s current assembly shop by 139,930 square feet and upgrade to a new logistics IT system. The expansion will create an estimated 300 new jobs.
“In the next years we invest $1.3 billion into the expansion of our SUV production and turn the Mercedes-Benz plant Tuscaloosa into a high-tech location,” said Markus Schäfer, Member of the Divisional Board Mercedes-Benz Cars, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management. “In this way we can produce the next SUV generations even more flexibly, efficiently and in proven top quality.”
Opened in 1997, the Tuscaloosa plant initially made the M-Class, which has since been renamed the GLE. Production of the GLE continues at the Alabama plant, but Mercedes has added GL and C-Class sedan production over the last few years. The plant also made the R-Class utility vehicle until August of this year.
Those vehicles will continue to be made in Tuscaloosa, with Mercedes stating that it will add hybrid production within the next few years.
Photo by Drew Johnson.
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