Mercedes-Benz Postpones Production of Crossover in Alabama

Mercedes-Benz will postpone the start of production of the GLC compact crossover at its Alabama assembly plant by two and a half years beyond the initial plan, according to the industry website AutoNews.

Sources involved in the decision said the company decided to align the program’s launch with the vehicle’s generational change, which is scheduled for May 2030.

As previously mentioned here, the German premium automaker had planned to begin producing the GLC—its best-selling imported model in the U.S., which currently faces a 15% tariff—on U.S. soil by the end of next year.

The automaker had previously stated that it would allocate $4 billion to relocate the operation from Germany to the United States, while suppliers will invest an additional $3 billion to support this program.

However, the sheer scale of this operation makes it financially unfeasible to launch it next year if a new investment must be made by 2030 to redesign the crossover.

“Investing in the plant for roughly half of the product’s life cycle and then having to adapt it for the next generation of the GLC doesn’t make much sense from a financial standpoint,” Sam Fiorani, vice president of AutoForecast Solutions, told AutoNews.