Tuscaloosa will now begin building the new ML 450 Hybrid, which goes on sale this fall.
The sole Mercedes-Benz plant in North America celebrated the production of the plant’s one millionth M-Class sport utility vehicle this week.
The milestone vehicle is an ML 350 BlueTEC diesel, destined for a West Coast Mercedes-Benz dealership.
The M-Class was the only model produced at the Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant starting when it opened in 1997. All told, more than 570,000 vehicles were built during the original eight-year M-Class lifecycle, which up lasted until 2004.
That success, and the need to hedge currency, led to a $600-million plant expansion.
Today, three vehicles are built at the Tuscaloosa facility, the second-generation M-Class, the R-Class SUV Tourer, and the GL-Class luxury SUV. In total, more than 1.2 million vehicles have been built among the three models by 3,000 workers. Tuscaloosa is the sole production location for all three vehicles.
Mercedes-Benz is currently promoting its BlueTEC diesel technology on the R, ML and GL 350 BlueTEC – the world’s first three diesel SUVs that not only meet the particularly demanding targets specified in the U.S. Bin 5 (50-state) standards, but which also have the potential to fulfill the stringent EU 6 standards due in the future.
Diesel particulate emissions remain controversial since they are known to cause cancer, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is studying the issue.
Nonetheless, Mercedes is currently exceeding all current emission standards for diesel passenger cars worldwide. In the U.S., about 20% of all customers order their Mercedes-Benz SUVs as a BlueTEC diesel version.
In addition to BlueTEC diesel technology, Tuscaloosa will begin building the new ML 450 Hybrid, which goes on sale this fall. It’s based on GM’s dual-mode hybrid system that is also used by Chrysler and BMW, in a belated response to Toyota’s decade long success with hybrid vehicles.
“Everyone here is extremely proud to have reached this milestone,” said Ola Kaellenius, who assumed leadership of the plant in June 2009 as the new President and CEO.
Referring to the downtime the plant has taken as the Global Great Recession continues, he said, “This year has posed some challenges, but our Team Members have worked to maintain our momentum and they’ve turned those challenges into opportunities.”