Could Charlotte Metro Land Suzuki Automobile Plant?

[monsoon]

There is an article in today's paper that would suggest that Suzuki will build a Carolinas plant and are particularly interested in this area because the Charlotte district is the number 1 sales region for Suzuki in the nation. I had no idea these cars were so popular here though I do know someone with a WRX with enough mods that it should be on TV.

Many people don't realize the CLT area has a Freightliner midsized truck assembly plant in Gastonia, and the metro is full of companies that make parts for the automobile industry. It seems that it could be a good fit here. (our region has as many jobs in manufacturing as that in finance)

Thoughts?

If it came here where would it go? Could it be located on some re-claimed land within the city or would this be a suburban endevor?

[dubone]

That is cool. I think if Charlotte is the area with significant numbers of sales, then we have a good shot at winning the plant. That is on top of our central location on the east coast, and location economy of automobile parts.

If they build it in Mecklenburg county, my guess is that it would go south of the airport. That seems to be where most of the industrially zoned land is located, and there is a tremendous amount of train and trucking infrastructure there. It is possible, though, that they will go the Gaston county or Cabarrus county and take advantage (in a good way) of the large numbers of manufacturing workers that have lost jobs in recent years from textile plant closures.

[RiverwoodCLT]

Freightliner builds the large trucks up in Cleveland, just west of Salisbury, on hwy 70.

Freightliner mid size trucks in Mt. Holly.

Freightliner parts plant in Gastonia

Freightliner chassis plant in Gaffney, SC

I have been to all these plants, and the Cleeveland plant looks to be the largest.

[Mobuchu]

Suzuki or Subaru? WRX is a Subaru that is why I ask, haven't seen the article yet.

Either way this would be great for the jobs. How many people does a plant like this employ. And what type of pollution is created from one. Might make a difference on where it is located.

[hinsp0]

Suzuki or Subaru? WRX is a Subaru that is why I ask, haven't seen the article yet.

Either way this would be great for the jobs. How many people does a plant like this employ. And what type of pollution is created from one. Might make a difference on where it is located.

Maybe they'll make the limited edition Chuck Norris Suzuki sidekick at the potential Charlotte plant....

[dubone]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/13402243.htm

It is Suzuki.

113% sales growth in this city over last year. That is quite a bit, although it is definitely a low denominator, relatively speaking.

[monsoon]

Suzuki or Subaru? WRX is a Subaru that is why I ask, haven't seen the article yet.

Either way this would be great for the jobs. How many people does a plant like this employ. And what type of pollution is created from one. Might make a difference on where it is located.

Haha you are correct. It is Suzuki that is considering NC, it is Suburu that makes the WRX. Oh well.

I wonder if Raleigh (the legislature) would support state incentives for the CLT area?

[NC0775]

There were a couple of area dealers selling Suzukis that got shut down recently. I can't remember the names - one was on highway 74 near Monroe - Suzuki Auto Mall or something like that. They were manipulating documents to get credit approvals for people. I wonder if that had anything to do with this area having high sales?

[MZT]

Depends on how badly S.C. wants it... I remember how hard the Triad worked at luring Mercedes, and they still took another offer in Alabama where land was cheaper.

[atlrvr]

I don't think there is a chance in hell that it would locate in Mecklenburg County. First, I'm not sure there is a big enough site, and secondly, the price of the land in prohibitive for a low-margin/non-rapid-delivered product like a car.

Iredell will fight hard for this for the large parcel at the northeast corner of I-40 and I-77. SC will fight hard for it anywhere, though just south of Rock Hill off of I-77 seems like a good bet. Belmont Abbey might try to lure them to their mega-site just south of I-85. I'm not sure if there is a suitable site, but the state would probably be most supportive of putting this in Rowan County.

By the way, I answered No. My gut says it will go somwhere just north of Columbia, SC......close enough to the Charlotte Market, closer to Atlanta (which I would assume is seeing a similar big increase in demand), and close to Charleston should they decide to try to tap the South American or European market.

[rjp212]

I highly doubt Mecklenburg could land the plant, but I think one of the surrounding counties could grab it.

[monsoon]

There were a couple of area dealers selling Suzukis that got shut down recently. I can't remember the names - one was on highway 74 near Monroe - Suzuki Auto Mall or something like that. They were manipulating documents to get credit approvals for people. I wonder if that had anything to do with this area having high sales?

That was actually Harrelson's car dealerships when the sales manager was making bad deals there. The guy got charged when he moved to Suzuki but for making the bad deals at Harrelson. Remember the Dreammaker commercials? It was the Dreammaker that did the bad stuff.

They have gotten rid of the dreammaker, at least from TV, and have replaced it with the Planet Suzuki commercials. Right now they are doing their second "Okra" commercial. LOL.