Alabama-Built Mercedes-Benz R-Class Leaving U.S., Looking Toward Canada, China
Generally speaking, Americans don't like station wagons. Americans also don't like minivans. Those two reasons pretty much sum up why the Mercedes-Benz R-Class has never been the hot-seller Mercedes had hoped it would be. According to Mercedes-Benz because of slow sales of the R-Class and burgeoning sales of its crossovers and SUVs, the 2012 R-Class will be the last year for the pseudo-minivan in the United States.
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Since the Tuscaloosa, Ala.-built R-Class went into production in 2005, Mercedes-Benz's crossover and SUV production has expanded immensely. In fact all of Mercedes' SUVs save the uber-expensive military-based G-Class have been outselling the $51,500 R-Class all year. As of March 1st, Mercedes had only managed to sell 293 R-Classes in the U.S. in 2012 - a drop in the bucket when compared to the 3185 GL-Classes, 3606 GLK-Classes, and 7410 M-Classes it's sold over the same time period.
While sales are slow in the U.S., this doesn't mean it's the end of the line for the R-Class. Mercedes-Benz spokesman Christian Bokich told us that while 2012 may be the last year for the R-Class in the U.S., it will continue to be built in Alabama and sold in other markets where it does very well - like Canada, Mexico, Europe, and (especially) China.
Even with R-Class production dedicated towards international consumption, Mercedes expects its Tuscaloosa plant, which also builds the M-Class and GL-Class "to continue to flourish under the Mercedes-Benz 2020 Strategy." Production lines in Alabama won't be sitting idle either because as we've previously reported, Mercedes plans on building the next-generation C-Class right here in the states, as well as a yet-to-be named additional model.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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