Despite the downturn in the U.S. economy, luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz continue to see sales growth in the world’s biggest car market. The falling dollar has made it even more profitable to build cars in America - and Mercedes already builds M-, R- and GL-class vehicles in its Alabama plant. It is now beginning to look like the company could also include C-class production in its American facilities, especially with the new GLK, which is based on the same platform as the C-class, coming this fall.
The GLK, which shares parts from chassis to electronics with the C-class, is expected to do well in the U.S., so moving C-class (and GLK) production there could prove very fruitful. Mercedes has already invested more than US$700 million in its Alabama plant since 2004.
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