Photo: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz has had a plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for over 20 years now and according to the Germans’ newest press release, it is bound for a $1.3 Billion investment. What will all that cash bring? Quite a few key improvements.
The first car built here was an ML320 back in February 1997, a model that marked not only the first vehicle assembled here but also a premiere for the brand that was launching its first premium SUV back then (excluding the G-Wagon of course).
Their example was taken after by BMW later on and then by Audi, the German trio now having an extensive range of premium SUVs and crossovers on offer today. So what does that have to do with anything?
Well, the Tuscaloosa plant is about to get $1.3 billion in critical investments, a sum that is supposed to go into a new body shop, enhancements for the assembly shop as well as new logistics and IT systems.
The final goal is to make the production process more streamlined and as digitized as possible to ramp up the production in the future. This whole ordeal will create some additional 300 jobs that will be temporary, though.
Out of the improvements done to the facility, the most impressive one will be the 125,000 square meter body shop. In there, the newest and lightest materials from Stuttgart will be used to put together the future models. The existing assembly shop will also be expanded by 13,000 square meters.
It all sounds good, and the future SUV generations seem to be in the right hands at the moment, as they will benefit from all of these improvements. Those include the new GLS-Class and the upcoming GLA amongst others, as well as the GLC Coupe. However, the GLE and GLC variants could benefit from all of this stuff only later in their production span.
Their example was taken after by BMW later on and then by Audi, the German trio now having an extensive range of premium SUVs and crossovers on offer today. So what does that have to do with anything?
Well, the Tuscaloosa plant is about to get $1.3 billion in critical investments, a sum that is supposed to go into a new body shop, enhancements for the assembly shop as well as new logistics and IT systems.
The final goal is to make the production process more streamlined and as digitized as possible to ramp up the production in the future. This whole ordeal will create some additional 300 jobs that will be temporary, though.
Out of the improvements done to the facility, the most impressive one will be the 125,000 square meter body shop. In there, the newest and lightest materials from Stuttgart will be used to put together the future models. The existing assembly shop will also be expanded by 13,000 square meters.
It all sounds good, and the future SUV generations seem to be in the right hands at the moment, as they will benefit from all of these improvements. Those include the new GLS-Class and the upcoming GLA amongst others, as well as the GLC Coupe. However, the GLE and GLC variants could benefit from all of this stuff only later in their production span.
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