Tuscaloosa, Alabama (USA) – Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc. (MBUSI) celebrated the ten year production anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz M-Class. At the event, Alabama Governor Bob Riley, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of DaimlerChrysler AG and Head of the Mercedes Car Group, as well as Plant Manager Bill Taylor welcomed current and former team members as well as guests, including government officials, business leaders, and local dignitaries.

“Ten years of production of the M-Class is a great milestone and major accomplishment for both our team and our partners around the world in building our products,” said Bill Taylor. “This organization has come a long way – from never having built an automobile just ten years ago – to now building three products that are produced for 135 countries worldwide. Today’s event reminds us what this Mercedes-Benz team in Alabama can do.”

To mark the tenth anniversary of the M-Class, Mercedes-Benz is presenting the limited edition model “Edition10”. In addition to the regular model, the special edition is marked with “Edition 10” badges on its fenders. The anniversary edition also contains a long list of features and distinguishes itself through attractive exterieur design elements. Customers can order the vehicle beginning in fall 2007. The model comes with a broad range of special features already included, such as 20-inch wheels, bi-xenon headlights, taillights with a sporty, dark background, and special color highlights for the vehicle body. Striking features of the sporty interior include two-tone leather appointments throughout, sport instruments, and stainless steel pedals.

Home of Mercedes-Benz family of SUVs

The M-Class is the pioneer among premium SUVs, first rolling off the production line in 1997. Since then, two additional models have been added to the original and best-selling Mercedes-Benz SUV: The R-Class, a versatile and comfortable SUV tourer positioned between an offroader and a traditional station wagon, as well as the GL-Class, which is the first premium full-size SUV of Mercedes-Benz. More than 960,000 units of the three models have been delivered to customers since 1997, making Mercedes-Benz the best-selling premium brand in the SUV segment. MBUSI produced more SUVs last year – over 170,000 units – than ever before in its 10 Year-history.
Customers continue to provide positive feedback for the vehicles made in Tuscaloosa. Among the award recipients of J. D. Power’s Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study published in June were two vehicles from Tuscaloosa: the GL-Class (Gold medal) and the M-Class. Each year, the American market research organization J.D. Power surveys consumers who have purchased new vehicles to measure customer satisfaction in terms of the respective automotive concepts.

Cutting-edge diesel technology in the SUV segment

Almost half of the vehicles that rolled off the production line in Tuscaloosa last year were equipped with a V6 or V8 diesel engine manufactured at the German engine plant in Berlin-Marienfelde. In the M-Class, the worldwide share of diesel-powered vehicles rose in 2006 to the record level of over 50 percent for the first time.
The trend toward state-of-the-art diesel technology also continues to grow in the United States. In the first six months of 2007, diesel versions accounted for between 14 percent (GL-Class) and 20 percent (M-Class) of SUV sales in the U.S.

Starting in 2008, Mercedes-Benz will offer its entire SUV range with the exhaust treatment system BLUETEC, which makes diesel engines the cleanest in the world in all vehicle classes. What’s more, these engines meet even the most stringent emissions limits, ensuring that vehicles equipped with BLUETEC technology are approved for use in all 50 states. BLUETEC is a system developed by DaimlerChrysler that effectively reduces diesel vehicles’ fuel consumption and emissions by up to 40 percent compared to conventional gasoline-powered automobiles.

The V6 and V8 gasoline engines and transmissions installed in vehicles at Tuscaloosa are manufactured at the Stuttgart-Untertürkheim plant and by AMG GmbH in Affalterbach, Germany. This contributes significantly to the utilization rate of engine production, which Mercedes-Benz continues to entirely operate in Germany.
Series production launched in 1997

The Tuscaloosa plant was commissioned on May 21, 1997, after a two-year construction period. It was Mercedes-Benz’ first passenger vehicle plant outside of Germany. When DaimlerChrysler decided to construct the plant in 1993, it became the first automaker to establish an automotive manufacturing facility in Alabama. All in all, MBUSI has directly or indirectly, created more than 22,000 jobs. If the workforce of the largest suppliers in the area are added to this figure, then more than 41,000 people are currently employed in Alabama’s auto industry, either directly or indirectly.
After quickly reaching the original production capacity target of 65,000 vehicles per year, Mercedes-Benz invested about $80 million in the plant in 1998 and 1999, to ensure that capacity could be increased to approximately 80,000 units per year.
By investing a further $600 million since 2001, Mercedes-Benz has prepared the plant for the production of the second-generation M-Class (since 2005), the R-Class (since 2005) and the GL-Class (since 2006). The expansion has led to a doubling of the workforce (4,000) and the production capacity (160,000). The expansion has been completed and was opened in May 2005.