DETROIT (Reuters) - Mercedes-Benz will move its U.S. headquarters to Atlanta from northern New Jersey, affecting about 1,000 employees, the company said on Tuesday.

The Daimler AG unit is moving to cut costs, including those for cost-of-living and taxes, a source familiar with the brand's plans said earlier on Tuesday.

The new headquarters would be closer to the company's assembly plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and its port in Brunswick, Georgia. The current headquarters is in Montvale, New Jersey.

Mercedes-Benz, the No. 2 seller of luxury automobiles in the United States, said the move would "better serve its growing customer base and strengthen the company's position for long-term, sustainable growth."

"The state (of New Jersey) has worked tirelessly with us as we evaluated our options," Steve Cannon, U.S. chief of the brand, said in a statement.

"Ultimately, though, it became apparent that to achieve the sustained, profitable growth and efficiencies we require for the decades ahead, our headquarters would have to be located elsewhere."

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Richard Chang)