Mercedes-Benz has announced that it will exclusively produce the all-electric EQS SUV at its North American passenger vehicle plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Interestingly, the plant has been the production site for large Mercedes-Benz SUVs since 1997.
Around four million vehicles have left the Tuscaloosa plant since 1997, with around 260,000 SUVs rolling off the production line in 2021 alone.
According to a press release from Mercedes-Benz, Tuscaloosa serves as a key production location for Mercedes-EQ luxury electric SUVs, the EQS SUV and EQE SUV, that is expected to go into production later this year.
Jörg Burzer, Member of the Board of Management, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Production and Supply Chain, said, 'With the new EQS SUV joining our production portfolio of all-electric Mercedes-EQ models, we reached another important milestone in our strategy to go all electric by the end of the decade or wherever market conditions allow.'
It added that the Tuscaloosa plant uses state-of-the-art digital, sustainable, efficient and flexible production methods and follows the blueprint of the company's Factory 56 in Sindelfingen, Germany, symbolising the future of automotive production of Mercedes-Benz.
Additionally, using the MO360 digital production ecosystem, Mercedes-Benz is already able to produce battery-electric vehicles in large volumes, it said.
Since the 1990s, Mercedes-Benz has invested more than seven billion dollars in Alabama. Mercedes-Benz noted that out of this, $1 billion was invested into the battery plant, the logistics centres and upgrading the production line to make EVs.
Michael Goebel, President and CEO, Mercedes-Benz US International (MBUSI), said, 'Our team members in Tuscaloosa have shown a lot of flexibility, energy and commitment in helping us to achieve milestone after milestone since our first Mercedes-Benz rolled off the production line more than 25 years ago.'