The Auto Writer

Inside the next five years, visitors to Mercedes dealerships may find that their favorite sedan isn’t built in Germany anymore. That would be the C-Class, which is the best selling Mercedes model in the United States, a car that is currently assembled in the homeland, but soon may join three other models now being built in Alabama.

Tuscaloosa Factory

The Mercedes factory in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama is being reviewed as the possible source for the C-Class, with that decision expected to come within the next few months. The reason why some C-Class capacity would be shifted to the United States has everything to do with currency exchange as a weak dollar matched up against a strong Euro has made it difficult for Mercedes and other manufacturers to make money off of their vehicles without raising prices.

And even though Mercedes caters to a higher end clientèle in the US, even high wealth individuals are watching their wallets, which means that the German make is reluctant to pass on costs to its customers.

Weak Dollar

The US government has signaled that it wants to strengthen the dollar, but a weak dollar does have one huge benefit: exported goods from America are sold for less overseas. This means that American products can compete internationally which also means that our trade deficit will drop and jobs will be created. I suppose that also means that the Obama administration isn’t in any hurry to make a change, at least his kind of change.

Moving some of its C-Class production to the United States will take time which means that Mercedes will want to find out if the dollar will stay weak for a long time or if it will strengthen against the Euro. Mercedes will have to expand the Alabama factory and retool the facility to bring in the C-Class as Tuscaloosa currently builds crossovers including the M-Class, R-Class, and GL-Class. At any rate, it could be 2013 before the first C-Class sedans roll out from Alabama, but if they do then Mercedes may be able to produce as many as 80,000 units annually.

MBUSI Jobs

The Alabama plant is part of MBUSI, a company which is now that state’s largest exporter with more than one billion dollars in vehicles sent abroad annually. MBUSI says that 10,000 direct and indirect jobs are tied in with the Tuscaloosa factory, making the facility a true job magnet for that area.