Mercedes-Benz to import GLC-Class SUV from India
The first batch of Indian-built GLCs will arrive in the US next month.
Mercedes-Benz might manufacture a handful of its vehicles in the US, but its best-selling model, the GLC-Class, is an import from Germany. But soon, it'll be built in a different place entirely.
Mercedes-Benz will begin importing its GLC-Class SUV from India, Automotive News reports, citing confirmation from the automaker. Representatives for Mercedes-Benz did not immediately return a request for comment, but a spokesman told Automotive News that the first shipment of Indian-built GLCs will arrive in the US next month.
The US auto market is in a weird place right now. Automakers that import vehicles from China are facing large tariffs as the White House ramps up its fledgling trade war.
Some automakers, like General Motors , have petitioned the government for a tariff exception because its Buick Envision doesn't garner the demand that would afford US production. Others, such as Volvo, are shifting US-bound production from China to Europe. And then there's Ford, which canceled its plans to sell the Chinese-made Focus Active in the US, which means the Focus name is all but dead in the States. Tariffs work in the other direction, too -- prices of Teslas in China shot up $20,000 in July after the country applied retaliatory tariffs.
Moving production of US-spec GLC-Class SUVs from Europe to India could indicate that Mercedes-Benz is concerned about potential US tariffs on European-built luxury vehicles. President Trump has threatened to apply a 20 percent import tariff on European luxury cars , and moving production to India could step around that issue, which has the chance to affect one of Mercedes' biggest cars in the US. Two major auto-industry groups denounced that idea in June.
