“EQ meets Bama.”

The automaker announced its expansion plans at a ceremony today at its assembly plant in Vance, where it began production 20 years ago. Top Mercedes executives joined state leaders and local officials at the event.

Mercedes said its Alabama plant, which is in the midst of a $1.3 billion expansion project announced two years ago, will shape the future of electric mobility worldwide as it integrates electric vehicles into its production lineup.

“With this $1 billion investment, we are significantly growing our manufacturing footprint here in Alabama, while sending a clear message to our customers across the U.S. and around the world: Mercedes-Benz will continue to be on the cutting-edge of electric vehicle development and production,” said Markus Schäfer, member of the divisional board of Mercedes Cars, production and supply chain.

Mercedes will begin producing SUV models bearing its EQ brand in Alabama at the beginning of the next decade. The Alabama expansion is part of a global initiative by the automaker to offer more than 50 electric vehicles variants by 2022.

“EQ meets Bama,” Schäfer said.

Today, Mercedes’ Tuscaloosa County assembly plant produces the GLS, GLE and GLE Coupé sport utilities, as well as the C-Class sedan. As part of the 2015 expansion, the plant is being prepared to produce modern plug-in hybrids.

RECORD OF EXPANSION

Mercedes’s original investment in Alabama was $350 million. Once expansion announced today is complete, the figure will stand at $6.8 billion.

“The fact that Mercedes-Benz continues to expand its operations in Alabama makes a powerful statement about the quality of the automaker’s workforce in the state, and underscores that we are achieving our goal of ensuring businesses in Alabama don’t just survive, but thrive,” Governor Kay Ivey said.

“For the past two decades, MBUSI has been a tremendous partner in the growth of our state, and we look forward to strengthening those bonds in the years to come,” she added.

“Mercedes-Benz has been a powerful catalyst for growth in Alabama for two decades.”

Construction of the 1 million-square-foot battery facility is expected to begin next year, and it should be operational in a couple of years.

When it opens in 2019, the Global Logistics Center, located five miles away from Mercedes’ assembly plant in Bibb County, will support the company’s worldwide logistics operations for the products it makes in Alabama. It will supply overseas assembly plants with kits used to produce vehicles for local markets.

The new after-sales North American hub on the same site will provide spare parts to markets around the world. It should become operational in late 2020.

“This is an exciting day for MBUSI and our entire team here in Alabama,” said Jason Hoff, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, as the company’s Alabama operation is formally known. “Looking back on 20 years of production, the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa has been a success story from the beginning.”

‘CATALYST FOR GROWTH’

Alabama officials welcomed the investment from Mercedes, whose Tuscaloosa plant produced more than 310,000 vehicles in 2016. It employs more than 3,700 team members and supports over 7,000 jobs on the 1,000-acre plant site.

“Mercedes-Benz has been a powerful catalyst for growth in Alabama for two decades, and the company’s decision to produce electric vehicles at its Tuscaloosa plant and to expand its global logistics operation in the state reinforces the company’s vital role in Alabama’s future,” said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce.

“This initiative, which will bring cutting-edge technology and new jobs to the state, is another great chapter in our relationship with the automaker,” he added.