GCIDA Board and staff members shown in picture with latest Mercedes Benz M-Class SUV. L-R are Tamara Thomas, Phillis Belcher, Tiffany Grisby, Ralph Banks, III and Danny Cooper. Not shown is photographer John Zippert.

A delegation of Greene County Industrial Development Authority Board and  staff members joined hundreds of others who attended a celebration last Wednesday at the Mercedes Benz plant in Vance, Alabama. The celebration marked the production launch of the third generation of the M-Class SUV which are produced by 2,800 workers at the plant in Vance. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler AG, Mercedes parent company also announced that the luxury automaker would invest $2 billion more in the plant in Vance to produce the Mercedes C-Class, one of its best sellers.Zetsche said the funds would be invested between now and 2014, when Mercedes will be in full production of its C-Class sedans in Vance. The $2 billion is one of the largest single manufacturing investments in the state’s history and will match the current investment in the Vance plant made over the last 14 years. Governor Robert Bentley was at the ceremony and praised Mercedes for its confidence in Alabama’s workers and business climate. 

   “Bama and Benz is a winning combination,” Zetsche said during the M-Class launch. These were comforting words to employees, economic developers, political leaders and others across Alabama who are interested in the health and success of the plant.

    The global auto downturn that stretched through 2008 and 2009 shook the faith of some, as the automaker slashed its Alabama output and shrank the plant’s work force. For a while, the assembly lines were running just four days a week, a slowdown that trickled down to suppliers and other Mercedes support businesses, which shed more jobs. But now the future of the plant at Vance looks bright.

    Danny Cooper, Chair of the GCIDA said, “ I hope this is an indication that the general economic outlook in west Alabama is improving and we will soon see some of the projects we are working on for Greene County come to fruition.”