Mercedes Benz to build fifth model in U.S. The new Mercedes MLC Coupe, perhaps?

Mercedes Benz has revealed it will build a fifth model at its US plant in Alabama from 2015. Is this the new ML Coupe – the Mercedes MLC?

Although we all like to think that cars are built in the car makers home country, that’s increasingly not the case. A good case in point is the very German Mercedes Benz, which builds three models in the U.S. – the M Class, GL Class and R Class, SUVs all – and are adding the C Class in 2014.

And now there’s another to add to the list which may, or may not, be the Coupe version of the M Class – the Mercedes MLC.

Mercedes has announced that a fifth assembly line is to be added to their facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, by 2015, with a $350 million investment going in to its creation and an extra 400 jobs for the local economy. Which with the U.S. economy a bigger basket case than ours will be welcome news for Southerners.

Although Mercedes hasn’t divulged which model they plan to be made in the US of A, the most likely candidate – especially considering the M Class is already built in Alabama – is the Coupe version of the ML – Mercedes’ answer to the surprising success of the BMW X6.

But it’s not just Mercedes who are planning a coupe version of an existing SUV to take on the X6, Audi are working on a monster coupé SUV too, and there’s lots in the pipeline from other car makers too.

There’s a better than even chance Jaguar Land Rover will jump on this bandwagon too, with a coupe crossover from Jaguar or even a coupé version of the next Range Rover Sport. And it won’t stop there as the coupe SUV seems to be gaining momentum as the next oxymoron of car making, following on from the four-door coupe fad of recent years.

Unless the eco-mentalists get a second wind and manage to whip-up anti-SUV hysteria again.