Mishawaka vehicle maker AM General has started building Mercedes-Benz SUVs under a new, multi-year contract with the German automaker.

Company and state officials on Tuesday will mark the deal under which Mercedes’ SUVs will be manufactured in the same Mishawaka factory where AM General built the Hummer H2, which it made for General Motors until January 2009.

AM General is building the seven-seat R-Class SUV that’s now sold exclusively in China.

“(It’s a) tremendous opportunity for AM General,” Jeff Rea, president and CEO of the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce, told 95.3 MNC on Tuesday. “This is significant for the commercial division out there. I think, more importantly, today’s start maybe signifies other things happening down the road.”

Gov. Mike Pence, Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) are expected to attend the 1 p.m. celebratory kick-off of the new production line.

AM General planned to hire several hundred workers to make the R-Class. AM General also makes the MV-1 wheelchair-accessible van, along with military vehicles at a second factory in Mishawaka.

Mercedes moved the production of the R-Class from its Tuscaloosa, Alabama, assembly plant to AM General to make way for the new GLE Coupe SUV.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.