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I forgot to list that one for the Altima. The Canton MS plant is basically an overflow plant for everything made at the Nashville TN factory
Most of the focus at the Canton, MS plant was on trucks initially (app. 75% of production), but since then the focus is starting to shift due to the economy, recession, and the overall need/want for smaller, more efficient vehicles. The Canton plant is roughly half the size (2.6 million s.f.) of the giant in Smyrna (5.2 million s.f.).
Maybe they can't come out ahead b/c they're benefits are too generous. Toyota and Honda don't seem to have that problem with their American workers. Even with Universal Healthcare, that does nothing about the fact that the Big 3 build crappy cars and relied too heavily on truck and SUV sales. American cars are a joke to the rest of the world as they should be.
You can go ahead and try to shift the blame on someone else, as many people always do, but this is their own doing. The auto unions and the Big 3 need to take a look in the mirror for where to place blame. They were badly run businesses and deserve to fail imo.
First, Honda and Toyota haven't been in the US long enough to have anywhere near the amount of retirees as the Big 3. Also, they pay their employees so much less and offer fewer benefits so that factors into their success as well. The Big 3 had to build crap like Hummers and Escalades to maximize the profits made on every vehicle sold. The smaller fuel efficient vehicles didn't recoup enough of the money spent on the labor it took to build them.
If the Big 3 only had to pay hourly wages to its current workforce and didn't also have to pay for the healthcare of its current employees as well as the healthcare of its former employees, then they could be more competitive with companies like Volkswagon and Toyota. Japan and Germany already have socialized medicine as does Canada, hell even Mexico is working on getting it too.
First, Honda and Toyota haven't been in the US long enough to have anywhere near the amount of retirees as the Big 3. Also, they pay their employees so much less and offer fewer benefits so that factors into their success as well. The Big 3 had to build crap like Hummers and Escalades to maximize the profits made on every vehicle sold. The smaller fuel efficient vehicles didn't recoup enough of the money spent on the labor it took to build them.
If the Big 3 only had to pay hourly wages to its current workforce and didn't also have to pay for the healthcare of its current employees as well as the healthcare of its former employees, then they could be more competitive with companies like Volkswagon and Toyota. Japan and Germany already have socialized medicine as does Canada, hell even Mexico is working on getting it too.
No one forced the Big 3 to build what they did, they made that choice and had to deal with the consequences of it later on when gas prices shot through the roof.
The Big 3 failed and its their own fault. Unions demanded too much and this is what they got and deserve.
Let's move all the high-paying manufacturing jobs to the anti-union right-to-work states so we can pay the employees $8 an hour! Hooray! The South will rise again!
I myself don't personally care for the big three, but I have to say I see the point here. I don't think people understand the implications of this race to the bottom.
Let's move all the high-paying manufacturing jobs to the anti-union right-to-work states so we can pay the employees $8 an hour! Hooray! The South will rise again!
I agree, lets lower everyones wages while everything goes up in price. The right to work laws should be abolished in the United States.
Yeah baby!!!! Thank God for Ford, best trucks there is! LOL
My ex-husband works for truck plant (there are two Ford plants here in Louisville) and they didn't take the buyout. They were struggling but not enough to need that.
Japanese automakers in the U.S. actually pay pretty much the same as U.S. automakers with the exception of benefits Autoworker Wage And Benefit Differences - CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/11/ap/congress/main4664833.shtml - broken link). This is ofcourse largely because of the high cost of insurance coverage provided by American Automakers. Japanese Auto Manufactures do not have to pay for insurance for their workers in Japan because there is universal health care provided there.
I'm quiet sure the many German Automakers in the South pay well also.
To answer the OP's post, it seems that way as evidenced in the multitude of foreign auto manufacturers that have established manufacturing plants throughout the Southeast over the past decade--BMW in SC, Mecedes-Benz in AL, Nissan in MS, KIA in GA, etc. However people should also recall that many American auto manufacturers had, and still have plants in the Southeast as well. However Atlanta has just lost two major American auto plants--Ford and GM.
In regards to logistics, the concentration of parts distributors that have opened as a result of the new plants, labor laws, and tax structure, I think the South can definitely emerge as a major hub for auto manufacturing in North America. However that's not to say that down the road another region in the US can't also emerge in this sector.
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The right to work laws should be abolished in the United States.
