Mercedes Benz has responded to the growing demand for SUVs in the US by starting manufacturing the fifth model of ML Coupe at a manufacturing plant in Alabama.
Mercedes Benz, one of the largest luxury car making companies, has revealed plans to build the next SUV at Alabama's Tuscaloosa plant citing an increase in demand for the type. Dieter Zetsche, the chairman of Mercedes parent Daimler AG, confirmed the company's plans on Friday that will oversee an expansion of the manufacturing capacity by 60,000 vehicles after having built 185,000 SUVs last year, Detroit News reports.
Mercedes Benz, a division of German manufacturer Daimler AG, hopes to strengthen its position in the U.S. by manufacturing 300,000 vehicles within the country by next year. The car maker said nearly half of all the vehicles sold in the country will be built at its Vance, Alabama plant. Mercedes Benz is also using the site to build the company's most popular C-Class sedans and R-Class crossovers. The decision to start building the company's next SUVs at the 4 million-square-foot plant is a part of its multi-billion-dollar expansion plan, which has seen more than $4billion spent since 1993.
"We're calling 2015 the 'Year of the SUV' for Mercedes and Tuscaloosa because we will roll out the all-new ML Coupe and have face-lifts of the ML and GL," Zetsche told local officials and community members, Friday, USA Today reports. "That also means more investment and yet another increase in production."
Daimler AG is also the first luxury German car maker to start production of a sedan in the US. Other German car makers have also invested in the southern part of the country following the great potential for growth in the automotive industry. BMW AG has a manufacturing plant in South Carolina and Volkswagen AG operates in Tennessee. Such investments have opened several jobs and auto supplier opportunities.
Mercedes Benz' Vance plant employs 3,400 full-time workers and is adding 1,400 more for the production of new SUVs and C-Class sedans.
