German carmaker Daimler AG said Wednesday it will move production of some Mercedes-Benz sedans to its Alabama plant, part of plans to cut manufacturing costs and take advantage of a growing U.S. market for the automaker's luxury vehicles.

Daimler, based in Stuttgart, said production of the new generation of the C-Class, one of Mercedes' more compact lines of sedans, should start in 2014 at the plant at Vance, near Tuscaloosa.

The move could add about 1,000 jobs to Daimler's Alabama operations, which employ about 2,800 workers making vehicles that include Mercedes SUVs and crossovers. Daimler said further investments will be made at the plant, but didn't provide details.

Daimler expects U.S. demand to increase, making it "essential" to put production near the expanding U.S. market, according to Rainer Schmueckle, Daimler's chief operating officer. The C-Class series is already the best-selling Mercedes model in the United States.

The decision has caused anxiety among German autoworkers who fear that the automaker is trying to shift jobs overseas.

Daimler said the new Alabama production would protect jobs in Germany over the long term and that employment levels at its Sindelfingen plant in southern Germany, the largest Mercedes-Benz German car plant, would be maintained.

"We are aware of our Sindelfingen employees' great emotional attachment to the C-Class and we recognize the outstanding work that they perform every day. So this decision was not made easily," Dieter Zetsche, the company's chief executive said in the report, adding that "Germany is and will remain at the heart of our production network."

But workers at Sindelfingen protested for a third day Wednesday over Daimler plans to move around production. That includes shifting European production of the C-Class to a plant in Bremen and manufacturing the SL sports coupe at Sindelfingen beginning in 2014. About 1,800 employees at Sindelfingen would be without work because of the change, but Daimler said they will be offered other jobs.

The workers' council at Bremen also voiced its concerns on the moves.

Juergen Coors, a Bremen workers' council spokesman called it a basic decision to "leave Germany as a production location," and criticized the company for "making decisions over the heads of workers."

Daimler currently makes the C-Class Mercedes line in Germany, South Africa and China. The plans to move work to the United States means that about 20 percent of C-Class vehicles will be made at the Alabama plant. The C-Class is the least expensive of its lines of vehicles sold in the United States, starting at $33,600. Most models are more compact and have less horsepower than Mercedes' more expensive lines.