Mercedes-Benz Is Closing Down a California Engineering Hub After 29 Years

A Long-Running Mercedes-Benz Hub Near the Port of Long Beach

Mercedes-Benz is getting ready to close its Long Beach R&D facility, marking the end of almost 30 years at the California site. Tucked away on Via Oro Avenue near the Port of Long Beach, the facility opened in 1997 and quietly became a key engineering hub for the brand in the US.

Over the years, this spot helped create nearly 100 patents, covering everything from powertrains to autonomous driving and in-car tech. The 32,100-square-foot building has been home to engineers, technicians, project managers, and legal teams – about 186 people in all.

Now, Mercedes-Benz is moving its operations elsewhere, Long Beach Post reports. According to a WARN notice filed with California, the company will start winding down in July and close the facility by December 2026. The property was listed for sale earlier this year, signaling changes were on the way.

This closure ends one of Mercedes-Benz’s oldest engineering outposts on the West Coast, right as automakers everywhere are shifting their US operations to focus on software, EVs, and bigger, centralized research teams.

Employees Face Relocation or Severance as Atlanta Expansion Grows

Mercedes-Benz says this is all part of a bigger plan to bring its US operations closer together. Most of the Long Beach work is headed to a new R&D facility near the company’s North American HQ in Sandy Springs, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.

The new Atlanta tech center will take up about 60,000 square feet in the Northyards Business Park near Georgia Tech. State officials put the project at $34 million, with completion set for later this year. About 160 employees will work there.

Some of the Long Beach employees have been offered the chance to move to Georgia, Ann Arbor, or other Mercedes-Benz sites in California. Others are only getting severance, depending on what the company needs. At least 72 jobs are directly on the line.

Not every Mercedes operation is leaving Long Beach, though. The company’s Classic Center and port-related vehicle processing operations will remain open.

Mercedes-Benz Wants Bigger Numbers in the US

The Long Beach shutdown is just one piece of a bigger shift at Mercedes-Benz. After years of chasing high-profit, low-volume sales, the company now wants to ramp up its mainstream premium business in the US.

Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Adam Chamberlain says the goal is 400,000 US sales a year by 2030. That would put Mercedes head-to-head with BMW and Lexus at a level no other luxury brand has hit in America. To reach that goal, Mercedes-Benz is planning a major product rollout, with bout 30 new or updated models expected for North America in the next few years.

Obviously, the Long Beach shutdown isn’t just a one-off. It’s part of a bigger reset for Mercedes-Benz in the US – from where it builds cars to how it develops tech and plans for growth over the next decade.