Mercedes built its second US assembly plant
- Mercedes operates since 1997 an assembly plant in North America. This plant, located in Tuscalooosa (Alabama), has a capacity of 300,000 vehicles per year and manufactures:
- for the whole world: the SUVs GLE (ex-ML) and GLS (ex GL).
- For the North American markets: the sedan C-Class since 2014, the Sprinter and the Vito (called Metris USA.
- Due to the saturation of the Tuscaloosa plant (Inovev estimates the output of the plant to reach 350 000 vehicles in 2016), Mercedes has decided to shortly transfer the 40,000 Sprinter and Vito made each year in the new plant that is currently under construction in Charleston (South Carolina). This new plant will produce up to 40,000 trucks a year, but its capacity can be doubled if demand requires it or the carmaker would decide to add a mid-range pick-up.
- North American pickups and vans markets are indeed growing. Regarding trucks, the range offered in North America by manufacturers is increasingly composed of European models. Nissan produces in USA the NV200 since 2011, Ford the Transit since 2014, FCA the Fiat Ducato since 2014, Mercedes the Sprinter since 2010 and the Vito since 2016.
Contact us: info@inovev.com