{"id":150416,"date":"2020-07-17T11:28:39","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T15:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=150416"},"modified":"2020-07-17T11:28:39","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T15:28:39","slug":"mercedes-benz-ending-c-class-production-in-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2020\/07\/mercedes-benz-ending-c-class-production-in-alabama\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes-Benz Ending C-Class Production in Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Mercedes-Benz is ending production of its C-Class sedan at its U.S. plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lost in Daimler AG\u2019s announcement that it will lose $1.69 billion during the second quarter this year is the fact the company plans to stop making Mercedes-Benz sedans at its plants in the U.S. and Mexico.<\/p>\n

Daimler said the group\u2019s earnings before interest and taxes represented a loss of 1.68 billion euros, or $1.89 billion, which was better than the expected loss of 2.07 billion euros, or $2.33 billion, according to a preliminary report. Daimler expects to release a full financial report July 23.<\/p>\n

The German automaker is ending production of its Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan at the plant Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The facility will produce just sport-utility vehicles only, it said.\u00a0Mercedes will now build three models \u2013 the GLE, GLE Coupe and GLS \u2013 at the plant.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(Daimler seeing red due to second quarter estimates.)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Part of the company\u2019s Q2 loss was tied to expenses related to its Mercedes-Benz plants, including the one in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S. plant isn\u2019t the only site seeing production ended. The company also said it will also stop producing its compact A-Class in Aguascalientes, Mexico, to instead focus on the GLB, a newer, higher-margin SUV model. The shift away from sedans to SUVs and crossovers mirrors that of many other automakers seeking higher-profit margin vehicles to sell.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s seen its sedan sales drop in the last year with the E-Class down 1.3% in 2019. The C-Class fell also, sliding 0.9%. The A-Class was the contrarian in the group, posting a 12.3% increase.<\/p>\n

Not only is it moving toward making more utes, it\u2019s blurring the line with coupe versions of the GLC and GLE designed to look like a mix between a car and a small sport utility. Other makers, particularly BMW is using a similar strategy.<\/p>\n

(Mercedes-Benz kicks off GLE production in Alabama.)<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The company noted some of the factors negatively affecting the quarter\u2019s results included 687 million euros, or $768.6 million, in expenses to begin streamlining the company\u2019s global production network and capacity adjustments connected to Mercedes-Benz Cars\u2019 operations in Mexico and the U.S. Those \u201cadjustments\u201d are the move away from sedan production.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Markus Sch\u00e4fer, member of the Divisional Board of Management Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain, and Jason Hoff, president and CEO of MBUSI, kick off GLE production in Alabama in 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Overall, the company outperformed analysts\u2019 expectations thanks, in part, to the better-than-expected recovery in some markets and a strong June performance. The adjusted EBIT for Mercedes-Benz Cars and Vans and Daimler\u2019s industrial free cash flow, which was positive, for the second quarter of 2020 are also above market expectations, Daimler said.<\/p>\n

Ola K\u00e4llenius, chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, said\u00a0Daimler\u2019s deployment of extensive cash preservation measures plus the favorable demand-driven development of working capital combined to deliver positive Industrial Free Cash Flow in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

(Hoping to head off tariffs, German official highlights U.S. investment during Alabama trip.)<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a complex quarter,\u201d K\u00e4llenius said. \u201cWe took proactive decisions on costs and spending and focused intensely on working capital management. We were then able to seize opportunities allowed by the market recovery, thanks to our compelling product line-up. We also announced key strategic partnerships in electrification and vehicle software during the quarter that position us well for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lost in Daimler AG\u2019s announcement that it lost money during the second quarter is that the company plans to stop making Mercedes-Benz sedans in the U.S. and Mexico. The company’s Alabama plant will no longer produce the C-Class, focusing solely on the GLC and GLE, reports TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4389,"featured_media":119423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5],"tags":[],"make":[48,85],"post-state":[],"category_old":[118,150,151,123,256,289,299,163,132,196,125,139,148,278,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150416"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=150416"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=150416"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=150416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}