I suppose for Alabamans....

Daimler Moving Some C-Class Production to Alabama

FRANKFURT (AP) -- German carmaker Daimler AG said Wednesday it will move production of some Mercedes-Benz sedans to its Alabama plant, part of plans to cut manufacturing costs and take advantage of a growing U.S. market for the automaker's luxury vehicles.

Daimler, based in Stuttgart, said production of the new generation of the C-Class, one of Mercedes' more compact lines of sedans, should start in 2014 at the plant at Vance, near Tuscaloosa.

The move could add about 1,000 jobs to Daimler's Alabama operations, which employ about 2,800 workers making vehicles that include Mercedes SUVs and crossovers. Daimler said further investments will be made at the plant, but didn't provide details.

Daimler expects U.S. demand to increase, making it ''essential'' to put production near the expanding U.S. market, according to Rainer Schmueckle, Daimler's chief operating officer. The C-Class series is already the best-selling Mercedes model in the United States.

The decision has caused anxiety among German autoworkers who fear that the automaker is trying to shift jobs overseas.

Daimler said the new Alabama production would protect jobs in Germany over the long term and that employment levels at its Sindelfingen plant in southern Germany, the largest Mercedes-Benz German car plant, would be maintained.

''We are aware of our Sindelfingen employees' great emotional attachment to the C-Class and we recognize the outstanding work that they perform every day. So this decision was not made easily,'' Dieter Zetsche, the company's chief executive said in the report, adding that ''Germany is and will remain at the heart of our production network.''

But workers at Sindelfingen protested for a third day Wednesday over Daimler plans to move around production. That includes shifting European production of the C-Class to a plant in Bremen and manufacturing the SL sports coupe at Sindelfingen beginning in 2014. About 1,800 employees at Sindelfingen would be without work because of the change, but Daimler said they will be offered other jobs.

The workers' council at Bremen also voiced its concerns on the moves.

Juergen Coors, a Bremen workers' council spokesman called it a basic decision to ''leave Germany as a production location,'' and criticized the company for ''making decisions over the heads of workers.''

Daimler currently makes the C-Class Mercedes line in Germany, South Africa and China. The plans to move work to the United States means that about 20 percent of C-Class vehicles will be made at the Alabama plant. The C-Class is the least expensive of its lines of vehicles sold in the United States, starting at $33,600. Most models are more compact and have less horsepower than Mercedes' more expensive lines.

The automaker will get as much as $100 million in incentives from Alabama as it expands production there. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley's office said Wednesday the incentives include $55 million for work force training over 10 years and $20 million in grants over the same period.

Officials in the mainly rural west Alabama, where unemployment is in the mid-teens, welcomed the news. A $300 million expansion already is under way at the factory, but employment is down from a peak of about 4,000 before the recession hit.

''The good news is we have a Mercedes plant that is expanding. From a community standpoint, it helps us position ourselves for when the economy turns around,'' said Johnnie Aycock, president of the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama.

The lack of unions at the factory ''doesn't hurt,'' Aycock said, but added: ''This is such a productive plant. They're very cost effective ... because they started from scratch almost. They put in an entirely new production system that's being replicated around the world.''

Daimler is investing about euro3 billion ($4.5 billion) in its German sites to expand and upgrade.

The company said Wednesday Sindelfingen would become more of a central technology and research facility of Mercedes-Benz cars and a center for premium-class and luxury cars which would work increasingly with alternative powertrain systems.

Bremen will become the C-Class production center for European markets and will become the center for that high-volume series. Daimler expects a 20 percent production increase in the C-Class starting in 2014.

Daimler said its Rastatt plant in the southwest of the country would remain its production center for its smaller A-Class and B-Class series cars. The company also builds its Smart compact in Hambach, France.

Shares of Daimler were about a third of a percent higher at euro35.22 ($53.01) in Frankfurt afternoon trading.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/02/business/AP-EU-Germany-Daimler.html

For many of the "purists" that by Mercedes, it's just another reason to consider the "European Delivery" program. I have yet to hear of any unusual problems with the South African built C-Class cars, but there are those that require that their Mercedes passenger cars have Bremen or Sindelfingen dna.

As a purchaser of the first gen ML in the first model year of the V-8, in the first plant in the US, I was not happy. I don't know if it was the Alabama construction or the Sindelfingen design, but the 99 ML430 had a lot of bugs.

Hopefully by now MB has figured out which, and improved same.

If they move more production to Alabama, maybe we'll see a Mercedes Pick Up Truck in the future... j/k

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MB had to open a second "M" production plant in Graz ,cause the Europeans/Asians would not buy the defect ridden Alabama products.
No talk about mass retraining or layoffs for QC problems @ Vance,
Ergo QC problems still exist(Although, rather better hidden from consumers, until after purchase completed).

If you want the best Toyota ,It will have been produced in Japan.
If you want the best Mercedes,it will have been made in Germany.

Nothing MB currently produces ANYWHERE that induces me to get into car payments.

We all knew this was coming (BMW did it's "HomeWork" almost 2 decades ago)

Grains of Truth:
In Germany union members heirs still receive their decedents paychecks,
Forever.
The only way to fire a German union member is to Bankrupt the employer.

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'84 300SD sold
124.128

I imagine land and labor would be available at a good price in Alabama.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I happen to know that "AMERICANS" can build a quality vehicle. Shame on you.

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For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

Toyota took over a closed down GM plant,rehired the same workers and managers and is Today turning a profit with the plant.

"Ve Tink your definition of "Quality" differs from ours!"

"Given a choice, American workers will produce excellent Quality products."
"Only problem is They aren't" [Given a Choice or "Allowed to"]

OR if you mean an American based vehicle manufacturer...
"Bag it and Tag it." They're already deceased,just too dumb to realize it.
YOU (The Consumer)are their QC.

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'84 300SD sold
124.128

Probably attractive labor rates and some good tax deals. Personally, I don't want to own anything built in the U.S.

I'd pay extra for one thats built in Germany.

One of the reasons my dad really wanted to get my mom a Rav4 was because it was built in Japan. So far thats worked out pretty good.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I was built in AMERICA, am I defective?

__________________
For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

Probably.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

You're probably OK if you weren't assembled by a member of the UAW.

When I was in college I took a class that talked about the US auto industry. Its a known fact that the big 3 used its dealers as extantions of the QC process. They actuly factor the cost of warrenty work into the price of a new car. Its cheaper then throughly testing their vehicles. German and Japanese companies tend to have tighter QC, and they have the added benefit of relesing models in their home countries first before bringing them to the US.

A smart buying tip, buy the last model year of any car. You will get older styling making the car cheaper (because everyone wants the newest whatever it is) but the main benefit is that you will get a car where 99% of all the problems will have been worked out in previous model years.

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Yup, back when people actually bought american cars the common advice was to never buy the first year of a new model.