Northern Indiana Factory Starts Building Mercedes SUVs

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) — Northern Indiana vehicle maker AM General has started building Mercedes-Benz SUVs under a multi-year contract with the German automaker.

Company and state officials on Tuesday will mark the deal under which Mercedes' SUVs will be manufactured in the same Mishawaka factory where AM General built the Hummer H2, which it made for General Motors until 2009.

AM General is building the seven-seat R-Class SUV that's now sold exclusively in China.

Mercedes said in January it was moving production of the R-Class from its Tuscaloosa, Alabama, assembly plant to make way there for the new GLE Coupe SUV.

AM General planned to hire several hundred workers to make the R-Class. AM General also makes the MV-1 wheelchair-accessible van, along with military vehicles at a second factory in Mishawaka.