HighestOfHigh
Cornering Kingpin
Daimler officials told a German newspaper today that Mercedes-Benz is considering production of the C-Class sedan in the U.S., confirming a similar report from July of last year at the launch of the GLK crossover. Both the GLK and C-Class are built on the same platform, so building one opens the door to building the other. Mercedes' SUV production and sales have historically been huge in the U.S., with the M-Class and GL-Class (as well as the slow-selling R-Class) being built here. So building the C-Class in the U.S. would make a lot of sense. According to the German paper Stuttgarter Zeitung, the savings in moving some C-Class production Stateside would total about $95 million at 80,000 cars per year thanks to the 20 euros per hour savings in labor costs over European workers.
If the factory at Vance, Alabama were tasked with building 80,000 cars, at least some of them would be due for export, as even before this year's nosedive, Mercedes sold only 50,593 C-Class sedans in the U.S., according to Automotive News' Data Center. Perhaps most interestingly in the whole deal, the C-Class and GLK could both get a four-cylinder turbodiesel in the near future. In July of last year, Mercedes confirmed that both would be arriving by sometime in 2010, though the economic downturn has likely delayed that even further.
The engine could be a 2.2-liter turbodiesel rated at 170 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, or one of two new variants found in the 250 CDI and 250 CGI, both rated at 204 horsepower but with the 2.2-liter 250 CDI scoring 369 pound-feet of torque and the 1.8-liter 250 CGI version making a somewhat more tame 229 pound-feet. Fuel efficiency of the three engines ranges from 33 to 49 mpg. A supercharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine is also a possibility rumored for U.S. sale, and Building the C-Class sedan in the U.S. could cut the sheer cost of production far enough to allow Mercedes to sell the diesel or supercharged versions at a price point that's somewhat competitive with its standard gasoline-engine rivals. And that may be just the cost-savings Mercedes needs to get the numbers to work for U.S. buyers, who have traditionally wanted more fuel efficient cars but have oddly been unwilling to fork over more cash for that efficiency, with a few notable exceptions, including the Toyota Prius. If the Vance plant does take on production of the C-Class or the GLK, the change isn't likely to happen before 2013.
- Mercedes-Benz Considering C-Class, GLK For U.S. Production - MotorAuthority
