Mercedes to invest $1 billion at Tuscaloosa, add 600 jobs

FRANKFURT – Germany’s Daimler AG says its Mercedes-Benz luxury car division will invest $1 billion to set up electric vehicle production at its Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant.

The company says it will make future electric SUVs under Mercedes’ EQ sub-brand there and will also build a new battery plant, adding 600 new jobs in the region.

Mercedes executive Markus Schaefer said in a statement Thursday that “with the addition of electric SUVs to our future fleet, we will provide discerning drivers with a new, high-quality automotive option.”

Stuttgart-based Daimler and other global automakers are investing in what they hope will be the automotive technology of the future, combining low-emissions electric propulsion with autonomous driving technology and new forms of getting around such as sharing cars ordered through a smartphone app.