By Jeff Bennett
Mercedes-Benz USA is considering a plan to move its headquarters
to either Georgia or North Carolina from New Jersey, which would
end a more than 40-year connection to the state where it employs
about 1,000 people.
Executives are considering Atlanta and several cities in North
Carolina, according to two people briefed on the matter. A variety
of tax-incentive packages are being reviewed, although details have
yet to be released. Mercedes-Benz USA, a division of Daimler AG,
has been based in Montvale since 1972.
"MBUSA has not made any announcements with regard to this
issue," a company spokesman said. "There's a lot of rumor and
speculation out there--none of it's coming from us. As a matter of
policy, the company does not comment on rumor or speculation."
If the move goes through, it would be the third major relocation
to be announced in the past year in the U.S. auto industry. Toyota
Motor Co. said in April it would relocate the majority of its U.S.
operations to a new campus in Plano, Texas.
Over the next three years, Toyota will move its manufacturing,
sales and corporate headquarters to Plano from different sites
throughout the U.S. The bulk of the people will come from the
corporate headquarters now located in Torrance, Calif.
General Motors Co.'s Cadillac brand announced plans in September
to open its own headquarters in New York next year, breaking away
from the auto maker's home in Detroit. The office will be located
in SoHo and likely open in the second quarter, employing about 120
people.
A move south would put Mercedes-Benz's headquarters much closer
to its growing Tuscaloosa, Ala., plant, which has been expanding
and is expected to reach an annual output of 300,000 vehicles by
2016.
Commercial real-estate firm JLL Inc., which helped Toyota, also
is assisting in Mercedes-Benz's relocation process, these people
said. Meredith O'Conner, an international director for JLL who is
reportedly leading the internal site selection team, declined to
comment.
This isn't the first time Mercedes-Benz has considered a move.
In 1998, the company agreed to relocate its corporate headquarters
to nearby Pearl River, N.Y., but later backed away over rising
costs.
Write to Jeff Bennett at jeff.bennett@wsj.com
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