Alabama Auto Sector Seen Growing 20% in Next 5 Years as Mercedes Adds Jobs

Tucked away in the hills of western Alabama is Tuscaloosa County, home of Mercedes-Benz's only U.S. plant. Alabama Governor Robert Bentley said Mercedes' decision to build a plant has had a profound impact on the state. Over the years, Honda and Hyundai have also opened plants. Toyota opened an engine assembly plant. Countless auto suppliers have also built facilities in the state to be near the automakers. Jason Hoff, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International said, ' they kind of use an industry standard of about seven jobs for every job at the OEM level. You can always use that as the first kind of indicator. If you take that we have approximately 3,400 people right now in full time jobs, that's a pretty significant number.' Honda employs 4,000 people, Hyundai employs 3,000 and Toyota employs 1,200. Right now, Mercedes is in the process of adding 1,400 jobs as it ramps up production of its C-Class sedan and an as-yet unnamed SUV which will go into production in 2015.