{"id":1004,"date":"2015-10-02T11:16:58","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T10:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1004"},"modified":"2019-05-27T08:11:23","modified_gmt":"2019-05-27T07:11:23","slug":"mercedes-benz-alabama-plant-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/mercedes-benz-alabama-plant-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes-Benz\u2019 Alabama Plant Expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\"><\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/mercedes-benz-alabama-plant-expansion\/#This_expansion_plan_will_cost_Mercedes-Benz_13_billion_enabling_the_German_company_to_produce_SUV_at_its_Tuscaloosa_County_plant\" >This expansion plan will cost Mercedes-Benz $1.3 billion, enabling the German company to produce SUV at its Tuscaloosa County plant.<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/mercedes-benz-alabama-plant-expansion\/#What_is_this_plant_currently_producing\" >What is this plant currently producing?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/mercedes-benz-alabama-plant-expansion\/#What_is_included_in_this_expansion\" >What is included in this expansion?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/mercedes-benz-alabama-plant-expansion\/#What_this_expansion_is_called\" >What this expansion is called?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"This_expansion_plan_will_cost_Mercedes-Benz_13_billion_enabling_the_German_company_to_produce_SUV_at_its_Tuscaloosa_County_plant\"><\/span>This expansion plan will cost Mercedes-Benz $1.3 billion, enabling the German company to produce SUV at its Tuscaloosa County plant.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Mercedes-Benz is already famous for its safety, comfort and durability, and the kind of money they spend on R&amp;D. On Thursday, a new project has been announced which will cost Mercedes $1.3 billion. The company has made this huge investment to meet the production requirements at the Alabama production plant where the future generations of SUVs, powered by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/model?car=all-mercedes-cclassdiesel-engine&amp;model_id=33459\"><strong>Mercedes diesel engines<\/strong><\/a>, petrol and the hybrid versions, will be produced.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_this_plant_currently_producing\"><\/span>What is this plant currently producing?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A small amount of hybrid SUVs, that\u2019s what this plant is currently producing, but after this expansion, the production capacity will increase significantly. That\u2019s not all, the Tuscaloosa County plant is producing GLE SUV \u2013 known as the M-Class \u2013 as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/mercedes-benz-glc-class-crossover-making-its-debut-next-week\/\"><strong>GL-Class SUV<\/strong><\/a>, C-Class saloon, and GLE Coupe. The production was started here in 1997.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_included_in_this_expansion\"><\/span>What is included in this expansion?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There is a new 1.3 million-square-foot body shop, the SUV assembly shop will also be expanded and there will be a lot of improvements everywhere, giving the plant a modernise look and allow Mercedes to produce a wider range of vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>This new body shop \u2013 by employing a modular approach to manufacturing \u2013 will combine the innovative joining processes with latest lightweight technologies. After the complete digitisation of the production processes, the Alabama plant will be connected to Mercedes factories around the globe and it will also add flexibility.<\/p>\n<p>Markus Schaefer, member of the Divisional Board for Mercedes-Benz Cars, said in a statement that: \u201cIn the next years we invest $1.3 billion in the expansion of our SUV production and turn the Mercedes-Benz plant Tuscaloosa into a <a href=\"http:\/\/media.daimler.com\/dcmedia\/0-921-656511-1-1848870-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html\"><strong>high-tech location<\/strong><\/a>, in this way we can produce the next SUV generations even more flexibly, efficiently and in proven top quality.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_this_expansion_is_called\"><\/span>What this expansion is called?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Project Gateway, this is what this expansion is called, said Jason Hoff, current head of Mercedes\u2019 Alabama operations. He further added that since they have been the home of Mercedes SUVs for more than 20 years, and by calling this project the gateway to the future, they have further cemented their position.<\/p>\n<p>This expansion is one of the largest single investments to date made by the German automaker in Alabama, bringing Mercedes\u2019 total investment at about $5.8 billion. It also raised full-time Mercedes employees to 3,800, creating 300 new permanent positions, where 50 of them will be highly skilled.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; This expansion plan will cost Mercedes-Benz $1.3 billion, enabling the German company to produce SUV at its Tuscaloosa County plant. Mercedes-Benz is already famous for its safety, comfort and durability, and the kind of money they spend on R&amp;D. On Thursday, a new project has been announced which will cost Mercedes $1.3 billion. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[308,306,307,188,62],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2068,"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions\/2068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enginecompare.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}