Mercedes-Benz To Invest $1 Billion In US EV Factory

Mercedes-Benz has spent the last year making it clear that it's making the shift towards an all-electric line-up. It isn't the only car maker doing this, of course, but the German luxury brand is promising that its new EQ line is the start of offering an electric version of each of its models by 2022. To help make that happen, parent company Daimler AG has revealed that it's making a $1 billion investment in the Mercedes factory in Alabama, allowing it to produce EV in the US.

Located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the Mercedes factory has already been in operation for 20 years now, and is mostly responsible for producing SUVs. The $1 billion will be used to fund a 1-million-square-foot expansion that will start construction next year, with a goal of vehicle manufacturing to start in the early 2020s. Daimler notes that it expects the expansion to create 600 new jobs.

This will mark the start of Mercedes' overseas EV manufacturing, as Automotive News reports that the company's electric models have all been produced in Germany before now. Since the Alabama already focuses on SUVs, it's expected that its new EV expansion will continue to focus on those vehicle types. While some of these future cars will no doubt be all-electric models, it's also likely that a majority will still be hybrids for the coming years.

"With production locations for EVs and batteries in Europe, China and now the U.S., our global network is ready for the era of electric vehicles. Thanks to our plant modernization in Tuscaloosa, we will be able to quickly ramp up U.S. production of EQ models," said Mercedes-Benz board member Markus Schaefer.

SOURCE Automotive News