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Carbon Motors Announces Five US States on Short List for 10,000 New American Jobs - News - POLICE Magazine (http://www.policemag.com/News/2009/03/03/Carbon-Motors-Announces-Five-US-States-on-Short-List-for-10-000-New-American-Jobs.aspx - broken link)
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Carbon Motors Corporation announced today that 5 US States have made the short list for the location of the Carbon Campus, which will house the entirety of the company’s operations. Carbon Motors is a bold, new homeland security company that has developed the Carbon E7, the world’s first purpose-built law enforcement patrol vehicle. Independent projections forecast that 10,000 new sustainable direct and indirect American jobs will be created driving a $3 billion positive economic impact over ten years in the selected region. Formal Request for Proposals (RFPs) have been issued to local, state, and federal authorities in:
Georgia (Braselton and Pooler)
Indiana (Connersville)
Michigan (Plymouth)
North Carolina (Charlotte)
South Carolina (Greenville and Spartanburg)
Well the CEO came out today and replied saying "They couldn't come to a deal, at all." The News reported that they said Bev Perdue didn't even reply to them. They retracted the offer to NC because they were ignored.
This vehicle is an interesting concept, and I think that LE, just like FD, construction, public transportation, etc.... probably could benefit from a dedicated platform. But when I did some reading on LE's reaction to the vehicle about a month ago:
1) They generally liked the idea
2) $50k per vehicle was "impossible", even if the vehicle did last longer
I think they are in an uphill battle to justify the higher cost, even if it amortizes out to be cheaper. That's a hard hurdle to get past when many departments need 10s if not 100s of cars.
A better approach I think would be to license/buy a full-size body on frame design from GM or Ford, one that they've retired... such as a Caprice or Crown Vic..... then build that up as needed as the "perfect" cop car. The R&D is already mostly paid for, parts are cheap, it's a proven platform, etc. Then they could sell a dedicated LE car, but most likely at a much lower cost.
Call me crazy but I think it should be illegal for states to give businesses brib...I mean "incentives" to come. If they like your state and it's a good fit fine but taxpayers routinely get screwed in the deals.
I bet this company came in looking for money to start their company in these cities, by the government and who knows how many of these 10K direct or indirect jobs would be located in that city or if the economic plan would even work. Car manufacturing in this economy is a joke especially for a startup.
Ok so you don't know who's going to make it or how much it's going to cost and you expect states to bid on it. Don't make 1 prototype with a bunch of ex Ford employees and expect people to take you seriously.
I'm starting a company tomorrow. It will employ 8 million people making things. These things everyone will buy and it will be huge. Now I need some investors and a state to give me money to build there
There must be some official reply from the Charlotte Chamber and other groups who have to sole purpose of creating jobs in the area. I havent seen any articles on this in the papers yet but I would imagine there will be.
Bev Perdue did not reply to the CEO's letter!!! - Way to go Gov!!!
Somebody should have been kissing this guys rear end to get this most awesome
new auto manufacturing company here!
"There is nothing that you could do today any more important than it is for you to be successful in your group efforts to create a green industry cluster..." Perdue said. "Right here in the Piedmont, in Charlotte....Green is gold."
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Carbon Motors creates these futuristic police cruisers with fuel-efficient biodiesal engines
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"We had letters due back from the respective governors on March 16th," Li says. "We got four letters from four states and we did not get a letter from the governor of North Carolina. You know, we followed up a few times to see what happened, and they said they were working on it."
You know, I would have been glad to write that letter if no one in the Gov's office had time.
And as far as incentives . . . they can be a very good thing. You don't have to give away the farm - just make it a good business climate for a new start-up.
JOBS. What we need are JOBS.
What do we get? RHETORIC. And after-the-fact, at that.
Call me crazy but I think it should be illegal for states to give businesses brib...I mean "incentives" to come. If they like your state and it's a good fit fine but taxpayers routinely get screwed in the deals.
It all depends on what the incentives are in comparison to the potential for tax revenues and job creation. In this economic climate, you'd be a damn fool to not even respond to a letter. Or you'd be Beverly Purdue. A response isn't a blank check in the mail.
And does it really matter that the area might not see all of the jobs? If we get even 1/3 of the jobs its still an improvement when considering the fact that so many people are losing jobs and companies are downsizing.
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