AM General LLC, the South Bend, Ind., designer and builder of heavy military and commercial vehicles, has been contracted by Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. to manufacture the Mercedes-Benz R-Class luxury sport utility vehicles. The production volumes and financial terms were not announced, but manufacturing will begin this summer at AM General’s 675,000-sq.ft. Commercial Assembly Plant in Mishawaka, Ind.
Introduced in 2006, the Mercedes R-Class was the first full-sized multi-purpose vehicle produced by Mercedes-Benz. Currently, it is assembled by Mercedes at its assembly plant in Vance, Ala., but it is sold exclusively in China. The automaker sold 12,700 of the vehicles there in 2013.
According to Mercedes, the production move is necessary so that it can begin assembling a new SUV, the GLE Coupe, as well as make available production capacity for other new models for the North American market.
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