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Mercedes moves R-Class production to AM General in Indiana

Go back a decade or two and you'd have seen the SUV market polarizing in opposite directions: hard-core off-roaders like the Hummer on the one hand, and passenger-focused crossovers like the Mercedes R-Class on the other. Now their fates are set to intertwine, at least as far as manufacturing is concerned. No longer producing Hummers, AM General (which designed and originally produced the Hummer) has been assigned the task of manufacturing the R-Class at its underused, 675,000 square-foot Commercial Assembly Plant in Mishawaka, IN – part of metropolitan South Bend. The decision was undertaken to allow Mercedes to free up production capacity at its plant in Tuscaloosa, AL, where it also produces the M-Class, GL-Class and C-Class, and where it will soon begin manufacturing the GLE Coupe. The vacation of the R-Class assembly line could be earmarked to make room for that new slant-roofed crossover (which was originally thought to be joining the Tuscaloosa plant as a fifth model) or could pave the way for another model to reach Alabama altogether. The multi-year arrangement to manufacture the R-Class makes AM General the first manufacturer contracted to build Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the US, but hardly the only one in the world. The G-Class – which could, incidentally, be characterized as the German equivalent of the Hummer – is built on Mercedes' behalf by Magna Steyr in Austria, and the company builds many of its passenger and commercial vehicles for local consumption under joint ventures in the Far East especially. The R-Class was first introduced in 2005, and though it's still built in America, it was removed from the company's US lineup back in 2012. However Mercedes confirms that, since 2013, it has been and remains available exclusively in China. That puts the R-Class in the rare position of being manufactured in the United States by (or now for) a foreign automaker but unavailable for sale here. AM General Selected As Mercedes-Benz First and Only Contract Manufacturer of Vehicles in the United States SOUTH BEND, Ind., Jan. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- AM General LLC and Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc., today announced that Mercedes-Benz has selected AM General to manufacture the Mercedes-Benz R-Class luxury vehicle at AM General's world-class 675,000 square-foot Commercial Assembly Plant.

What the electric Hummer's size and weight means for its efficiency

The 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1. Tim Levin/Insider If you think driving a pint-sized Nissan Leaf is as good for the planet as driving a huge electric Hummer, think again.  The GMC Hummer EV uses significantly more electricity than other EVs, meaning it produces more pollution upstream.  The electric Hummer weighs 9,000 pounds and its battery weighs as much as a Honda Civic. The new electric Hummer rolls through town without a deafening engine rumble or a cloud of toxic fumes, but it doesn't exactly tread lightly.  The colossal truck weighs an astonishing 9,000 pounds. (Think two Toyota Tacomas, three Honda Civics, or 24 Shaquille O'Neals.) Moreover, the GMC Hummer EV is in many ways a supersized gas guzzler for a new era. It repackages many of the same flaws of hulking SUVs and trucks of years past — and proves not all zero-emission cars are created equal. EVs can be energy guzzlers too On the whole, electric cars use less energy than gas-powered ones. But they aren't all equally efficient.  No surprise here: The Hummer needs more electricity than any other EV on the market to move its elephantine frame. The Environmental Protection Agency rates the pickup at 47 MPGe (miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent). For comparison, the Tesla Model 3 sedan is nearly three times as efficient, earning a rating of 132 MPGe. The Ford F-150 Lightning, another electric truck, gets 70 MPGe.  This has real consequences: Since the US gets 61% of its energy from oil, coal, and natural gas, the more electricity a car needs, the more pollution it creates upstream.  As the Union of Concerned Scientists put it: "Both EV cars and trucks are much cleaner than their gasoline counterparts, but electric trucks are responsible for more global warming emissions than electric cars simply because trucks are larger and heavier."  The 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1. Tim Levin/Insider The Hummer EV is also resource-intensive to manufacture, requiring a ginormous (and weighty) battery to give people the 300-plus miles of range they desire. You could produce three Chevrolet Bolts with the same battery cells consumed by one Hummer.

2022 GMC Hummer Edition 1 weighs 9,063 pounds

From the beginning, the Hummer line of vehicles has been synonymous with the phrase, "absolute unit." The M998 Humvee turned to civilian use as the Hummer H1 came with a curb weight of 7,560 pounds depending on configuration. The much more urbane Hummer H2 didn't sacrifice much of those gains, putting about 6,615 on the scales. Let us not forget that the behemoth gravitational pull and square-jawed mass were what every Hummer buyer wanted. So, starting with the brand values and customer demand, and adding the fact that electric vehicles are substantially heavier than their ICE counterparts, no one should be surprised that the 2022 GMC Hummer Edition 1 weighs 9,063 pounds. That's just one of the substantial figures GMC included in a self-certification filing submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the document rooted out by Car and Driver. Last year GMC told us the Hummer would weigh 9,046 pounds, which proves again the Freshman 15 (or 16) is unavoidable.  Loaded up with humans and their accessories, the truck's gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) comes in at 10,550 pounds. It takes a few other big numbers to keep that kind of tonnage on the go. The Ultium battery weighs 2,923 pounds. With a 617-amp-hour capacity at 400 volts, total capacity comes in at 246.8 kWh, specific energy at 158 Wh/kg. Usable capacity is about 85% less, at 212.7 kWh. For the time being, these numbers put every other pack in a production vehicle in the shade. That gargantuan chemical plant in the Hummer's floor powers a 329-mile range the same way a giant fuel tanks feed a truck that gets 8 miles to the gallon. The miles per gallon equivalent figures GMC submitted to the EPA are 51 MPGe city, 43 MPGe highway, 47 MPGe combined. Motor Trend questioned whether GM applied the correction factor used for window sticker numbers; if not, the standard 0.7 correction drops the MPGe specs to 36 city, 30 highway, and 33 combined. However, trucks with a GVWR beyond 8,500 pounds don't need to display fuel economy figures on their window stickers, so don't expect to see any such details on dealer lots. For comparison, the Rivian R1T Launch Edition weighs about 7,000 pounds, and fits a 128.9 kWh battery good for an estimated 314 miles estimated at 70 MPGe.