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Mercedes confirms it will start building a "core" model in the U.S. but hasn't said which one.
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Mercedes-Benz has confirmed it will start making a core model at its plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, starting in 2027. The new car, “tailored to U.S. customer preferences,” is expected to be a C-Class or larger E-Class, a car that was named the 2025 MotorTrend Car of the Year, but that's not official yet.
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In February, Ola Källenius, chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, said the automaker wants to grow in the U.S. with 70 percent of production to be localized in 2027, up from about 60 percent now. He told investors during the company’s capital markets day that the Vance, Alabama, plant was likely to get another “core segment” model (C-Class or E-Class), as a way to hedge against proposed tariffs.
While the German automaker is now confirming the plan to build something new in America, it still is not saying which model will be rolling down the line. Despite executives' previous hints that it'd be a C- or E-Class, Automotive News has reported the model could in fact be the compact GLC crossover. With volumes of about 50,000 a year, it's a vehicle that makes more sense for our SUV-crazed market than, say, a car model such as the C- or E-Class.
No details on powertrain, either. The GLC currently is offered in many flavors including a mild hybrid, a plug-in hybrid and a performance AMG. Then there is the 2026 Mercedes-Benz GLC with EQ Technology, the first of a generation of new EVs on the new MB.EA electric vehicle platform.
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“Tuscaloosa has been a key hub for Mercedes-Benz vehicles for almost 30 years. It’s a natural step to bring a further model to Alabama as part of a strategy to deepen our commitment to the United States, a market, which has been our home for more than a century,” Källenius said in a statement.
Tuscaloosa was the first major Mercedes-Benz plant outside Germany. The first model rolled off the line in 1997, starting with the M-Class SUV. Over the years the plant has made the R-Class, GL-Class and in 2014 added the C-Class, though today the C-Class is built in Bremen, Germany.
Today, Alabama continues to build the GLE, GLE Coupe, and GLS Maybach. In 2022, Mercedes added the electric EQS SUV and EQE SUV, a $1 billion investment in EV production. A year later the new Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV joined the line. Mercedes also has a battery plant nearby to supply the electric vehicles.
The plant employs about 6,000 people currently and two-thirds of the vehicles from the plant are exported.
Alisa Priddle joined MotorTrend in 2016 as the Detroit Editor. A Canadian, she received her Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and has been a reporter for 40 years, most of it covering the auto industry because there is no more fascinating arena to cover. It has it all: the vehicles, the people, the plants, the competition, the drama. Alisa has had a wonderfully varied work history as a reporter for four daily newspapers including the Detroit Free Press where she was auto editor, and the Detroit News where she covered the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, as well as auto trade publication Wards, and two enthusiast magazines: Car & Driver and now MotorTrend. At MotorTrend Alisa is a judge for the MotorTrend Car, Truck, SUV and Person of the Year. She loves seeing a new model for the first time, driving it for the first time, and grilling executives for the stories behind them. In her spare time, she loves to swim, boat, sauna, and then jump into a cold lake or pile of snow.
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