Daimler considers building C-Class in Unites States

[rickaren]

Daimler considers building C-Class in Unites States

Posted Wednesday, Sep 23, 2009, 3:23 pm in Employee News

Daimler AG could move some production of its Mercedes-Benz C-Class to the United States from Germany, a German newspaper reported Wednesday, Automotive News reported

The Stuttgarter Zeitung said some C-Class production could be transferred to the carmaker’s plant in Vance, Ala., from Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart, as part of a wider production shakeup planned by Daimler to reduce costs, the trade paper said. In the future, the C-Class sedan could be built in three locations: Bremen, Germany; Vance, Alabama, and in China, the newspaper said.

Building about 80,000 C-Class cars a year in Vance would save the automaker about 64 million euros (about $95 million) because the average hourly wage at the U.S. factory is about 30 euros compared with 50 euros in Germany, the Stuttgarter Zeitung said. The Automotive News said that moving some C-Class production to the United States would allow Daimler to avoid swings in the value of the U.S. dollar against the euro and save import duties and freight costs.

The Vance plant, which builds the M-, GL- and R-class models, has spare capacity, the paper said. The plant built 66,710 units in the first eight months, down from 136,138 the year before, according to the Automotive News Data Center. (Automotive News)