--- title: "The $200,000 Mercedes-Maybach GLS Will Be the Most Expensive Car Built in the US" description: "The Alabama-built Mercedes-Maybach GLS will eclipse the Ohio-built Acura NSX by over $40,000 greenbacks." date: "2019-03-18" modified: "2019-03-18" authors: - name: "Stef Schrader" job_title: "Contributor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/stef-schrader" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/27011/the-200000-mercedes-maybach-gls-will-be-the-most-expensive-car-built-in-the-us" categories: - "Mercedes-Benz News" - "News" - "News by Brand" tags: - "luxury" - "Mercedes-Benz" - "suv/crossover" --- # The $200,000 Mercedes-Maybach GLS Will Be the Most Expensive Car Built in the US ![]() *\www.thedrive.com\* Vance, Alabama, is about to become the birthplace of the United States' most expensive new car. Mercedes-Benz plans to build its [Mercedes-Maybach GLS]() exclusively at its Alabama facility, reports *Automotive News*, and with an expected price tag of around $200,000, it will be the most expensive passenger vehicle built in America by a long shot. Currently, the Ohio-built Acura NSX is the most expensive car built in the United States, as [*Motor1*]() points out, but the expected price tag for the new Maybachified GLS beats the NSX's price tag by about $42,500. Mercedes' facility in Vance will also build the regular next-generation Mercedes-Benz GLS and is currently undergoing a $1-billion upgrade that includes an electric battery plant, as it will start producing vehicles for the brand's electric EQ line in the early 2020s, per *Automotive News*. Even before the upgrades, this plant is the second-largest vehicle exporter out of the United States, with two-thirds of its output going overseas. The new Mercedes-Maybach GLS will be a full-size luxury SUV in the vein of the Audi Q7-based Bentley Bentayga, as Maybach will be taking the downmarket (from this, at least) unibody GLS SUV and fancying it up. It will be powered by a V8 engine making at least 560 horsepower. It's expected to take some styling cues (though not the trunk) from the [Vision Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury concept]() and debut in China later this year. Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Dietmar Exler considers this new GLS a "halo car," and said that it's part of Mercedes' plans to extend the Maybach brand to as many models as makes sense. "We'll logically extend \[Maybach\] where it makes sense," Exler told *Automotive News*. "I cannot imagine you will have a Maybach A class. But on the top luxury cars, to have the luxury edition makes a whole lot of sense for us." It also plays big into the luxury market's insatiable thirst for plush SUVs. Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, BMW and Rolls-Royce all have their SUVs now, and Aston-Martin and Ferrari are expected to join the party next. The overall market for ultra-luxury SUVs is expected to grow from about 7,500 last year to over 20,000 by 2023, per AutoForecast Solutions data cited by *Automotive News*. Seventy-five percent of that market is the U.S. and China, so it really makes sense that Merc would build the new Mercedes-Maybach GLS in the U.S., and debut it in China. ## Author Stef Schrader is a former senior staff writer for The Drive. She started writing about cars in 2013 after meeting Jalopnik's editor-in-chief at a race track, where Stef can be found at every available opportunity. ### Author social links [LinkedIn]() [Instagram]() [Twitter]()