M-Classy Car

It’s an air tight, shiny silver, classy SUV and it’s made by Germans. Well, some Germans, but mostly it’s made by ordinary Alabamans. An M-Class Mercedes Benz rolls off the assembly line every 2.7 minutes, 24-hours-a-day in Vance, a tiny town in Central Alabama. The local library is a Tuff-Shed, there’s no stop light or grocery store, but the stylish SUV is assembled in a modern two-million square-foot plant by Mercedes Team Members whom mostly live in Tuscaloosa.

Every screw, rivet and dashboard for a single car is made within 30 miles of Vance and shipped just-in-time to be delivered to the line two minutes before it is needed. I saw a silver, automatic, leather interior, with a right-hand-side steering wheel version assembled for Michael Townsend from Oxford, England. It made me want a new car even though I don’t need one, so I bought miniatures in the gift shop instead.

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