Mercedes-Benz to Officially Shift C-class Production to U.S.

In an effort to reduce costs, Daimler officially announced it will shift approximately one-fifth of the total Mercedes-Benz C-class production to the U.S.

By 2014, all Mercedes-Benz C-classes for sale in the U.S. will be produced right here in the States. Production of around one-fifth of the world’s C-classes will be move to Mercedes’ plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. That plant currently produces Mercedes-Benz R-, M-, and GL-class SUVs and crossovers.

According to Daimler, producing the C-class in the United States will allow it to stay competitive in that segment because it allows the company to lower production costs and import duties. As the cars produced at the Tuscaloosa plant will be sold in the U.S., it also provides logistics advantages.

Mercedes-Benz expanded the plant in Tuscaloosa several times to keep up with the increasing demand for SUVs, but this has left the plant underutilized since the drop in SUV sales. Adding C-class production will help bring the plant closer to capacity.

Moving some of the C-class production to the States means that Daimler will also have to shuffle production in Germany to protect jobs. Production of the SL will be handed off to Daimler’s Sindelfingen, Germany, plant and the Bremen plant will take over production of the European C-class.