Mercedes eyes HQ move south

Although commercial real estate watchers have told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that German automaker Mercedes-Benz has looked in the metro Atlanta area for a site to relocate their US headquarters to, other experts suggest the Germans’ southward glance may be a ploy to get more favorable concessions from their current home base in the country.

The AJC talked to a senior state official who felt the company’s scoping out of real estate in Georgia and North Carolina is a move designed to win more incentives from the State of New Jersey, the current site of the company’s US division.

A Mercedes-Benz USA spokeswoman told the AJC that her company was not fanning the flames of a relocation, but “rumor and speculation" were still running rampant following reports from the Atlanta Business Chronicle and the Wall Street Journal that the company could be on the move.

If Mercedes-Benz did relocate its US headquarters to the metro area, the move would bring approximately 1,000 jobs with it, the Chronicle said Tuesday.