Mercedes-Benz pours $1 billion into electric car production in the U.S.

Daimler, the parent company of luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz, announced plans to invest $1 billion to ramp up electric vehicle production in the U.S. 

The huge sum will be used to upgrade a plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Mercedes already makes SUVs. The company also plans to build a new, separate battery plant near the current facility. Daimler claims the new developments will create more than 600 new jobs. 

Workers at the newly e-focused factory will make the automaker's upcoming line of electric SUVs, the EQ, which debuted last year at the Paris Auto Show. The battery plant, which will be the fifth such site for the company globally, will produce batteries to support both the SUVs built at the Tuscaloosa plant and other electric Mercedes-Benz vehicles around the world.  Read more...