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By

Dawn Kent — The Birmingham News

December 02, 2009, 2:00AM

Mercedes-BenzSome production of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan is moving to the automaker’s Alabama factory in Vance.Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG said today that it will move some production of the C-Class sedan to the automaker’s Alabama assembly plant in Vance.

Local production is expected to start in 2014, and the move will coincide with the launch of the next-generation version of the popular C-Class, the German automaker said.

“This step is essential for strategic and operational reasons, and helps the company to remain competitive and to fully utilize future growth opportunities,” Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche said in a prepared statement.

C-Class production in Vance will require additional investment at the facility, which is currently expanding its body shop in a $290 million project. The plant will build C-Class sedans for North American markets, which will represent roughly 20 percent of the model’s total volume.

Moving Mercedes’ best-selling vehicle in the U.S. market to a U.S. production site is expected to help offset the rise of the euro against the dollar, which squeezes profits on imported cars from Germany.

It also will be a stabilizing factor for the 3,000-worker Vance plant, which now produces slow-selling sport utilities and crossovers. During the past year, the plant has slashed production in response to the global auto sales slump, resulting in four-day work weeks, the elimination of temporary jobs and buyouts among the permanent work force.

The plant will continue to produce its current lineup along with the C-Class.

There has long been talk that Daimler and Mercedes might move the C-Class to Vance, but it has heightened lately. Zetsche, speaking to reporters in New York last month, fueled speculation by saying the company was considering the move.

Thousands of workers at Mercedes’ Sindelfingen plant in Germany, one of the C-Class’ current production sites, have protested the move, saying it would cost jobs there.

Daimler said it will maintain employment at Sindelfingen and will transfer production of the SL premium roadster to that facility.  Production of the C-Class sedan for European markets will be concentrated at the Bremen plant in Germany.

So far this year, Mercedes has sold 47,578 C-Class vehicles in the U.S., making it the company’s best-selling model domestically.

The Vance plant now produces the M-Class sport utility, GL-Class full-sized sport utility and R-Class crossover. Year-to-date U.S. sales of all three vehicles combined total 38,228, although the plant also supplies them to markets around the globe.