MONTGOMERY, Alabama - Alabama's top economic developer traveled to Seattle, Wash., this week to foster deeper relationships with aerospace suppliers as Alabama moves to become the next global center of passenger jet production.

Alabama Secretary of State Greg Canfield, who was in Seattle for the British-American Business Council Aerospace Convention, is targeting the development of a supplier infrastructure in the state as Airbus prepares to ramp up production of A320 family aircraft in Mobile.

Because of Airbus' presence, Canfield told The Seattle Times that he expects the aerospace industry to grow in Alabama in the same way the automotive industry has, through assembly plant expansions and the creation of an ever-widening supplier base.

"We fully expect the Airbus experience will be the same," Canfield told the newspaper. "That's our goal, to make that their experience."

Mercedes-Benz has not yet unveiled its next generation of the C-Class, but it released some information this week about what will be on the totally revamped sedan.

Mercedes is adding C-Class production to its expanded auto assembly plant in Vance next year. The Tuscaloosa County auto plant will make all C-Class vehicles for the North American markets. The C-Class will be the fourth Mercedes model made here.

The 2015 C-Class, which will go on sale in the fall of 2014, will have a completely reinterpreted center console, Mercedes said in a release this week.

"The innovative touchpad developed by Mercedes-Benz in the fourth-generation C-Class also marks an important evolutionary step," Mercedes-Benz said in a prepared statement. "As on a smartphone, all the head-unit functions can easily be operated using finger gestures."