Mercedes-Benz has been building cars in the US for thirty years now. The German brand has several plants in the US, but its Alabama plant just celebrated its five millionth SUV coming off the line, and marks 30 years of Mercedes-Benz production in Tuscaloosa.To celebrate, the Mercedes-Benz GLE and GLS made their world premieres at the plant where they will be built. Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius was joined for the ceremony by Mercedes' board members as well as US Senators Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, andUS Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Sweet Third Home Alabama Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz is based in Germany, but the brand's biggest market is currently China, followed by the US. As it stands, Mercedes is looking to expand its US market with an investment north of $7 billion, with $4 billion of that going into the Alabama plant in Tuscaloosa by 2030. That seems drastic as the US only has a certain number of people, and only so many people in the US are going to buy Mercedes-Benz vehicles. But Mercedes currently exports roughly 60 percent of its US output.As Mercedes points out, with its locations in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, it has a "broad U.S. footprint vital to its global operations." Not only does Mercedes have its factories in the south, easy access to the rest of North America and South America for export, but it also has access to the whole country for talent – hence its research and development centers in San Jose, Long Beach, and Carlsbad, California as well as a site in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Big Investment Mercedes-BenzMercedes is using its five millionth SUV milestone to remind us that not only has the German brand been here for decades, it builds and exports a huge number of vehicles from here, is spending and investing a lot of money here, but also employs a lot of Americans. Mercedes estimates "nearly 160,000 jobs across the country, offering 10,600 direct jobs, of which around 7,500 are in assembly." Furthermore, Mercedes estimates another 107,000 jobs across business suppliers and service providers, and that the brand's dealer network is made up of 386 partners, where another 27,000 people are employed.It's certainly an important time, politically speaking, for Mercedes to be making these points and reiterating the amount of money it's investing in its US operations. The multi-million dollar Atlanta, Georgia investment is particularly interesting, as that is where Mercedes-Benz's current headquarters are housed, and the company is looking "to leverage the rich engineering talent pool around institutions like Georgia Institute of Technology and create new opportunities to collaborate with the region's thriving startup ecosystem and established tech sectors."The other big news for the Tuscaloosa plant is that the investment there is partly so it can add the next-generation Mercedes GLC to its roster. The GLC is Mercedes' second best-selling vehicle and is slated, at least initially, for the US market and not for export. It's expected that the plant will start building prototypes in 2028 and production will begin in 2029, so the Tuscaloosa expansion will be ramped up quickly.