Volkswagen in Alabama possibly Limestone county

[Huntsville_secede]

I hope the TVA megasite in Limestone county wins this it would be great to see good growth in jobs besides high tech near Huntsville.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/inde....xml&coll=2

Alabama on short list for U.S. assembly site for Volkswagen

Thursday, April 24, 2008

DAWN KENT

News staff writer

Alabama is again in the hunt for an automotive assembly plant, this time vying against Michigan and Tennessee as a site for a potential U.S. factory for Volkswagen.

The German automaker, which is expected to decide this summer whether it will build the plant and, if so, where, said Wednesday it had narrowed its evaluation to the three states.

Sites in north Alabama along Interstate 65, as well as land in the Dothan area, property north of Mobile and a parcel spanning the Alabama-Mississippi line north of Meridian, Miss., all have previously been identified by state officials as areas that could handle an automotive assembly plant.

[mitchella81]

It would be very nice to land those jobs in Alabama. A good sign that they maybe very intrested in Alabama is that a German auto supplier is locating in Alabama. Govener Riley will be in Auburn tonight to announce details on a new German auto supplier coming to that city according to WRBL news.

[HSVTiger]

It would be very nice to land those jobs in Alabama. A good sign that they maybe very intrested in Alabama is that a German auto supplier is locating in Alabama. Govener Riley will be in Auburn tonight to announce details on a new German auto supplier coming to that city according to WRBL news.

[Southron]

Alabama is already the 5th largest automaking state. If this plant winds up in our state, wow, what a roll our economy would be on then.

Michigan is unlikely to land the plant because of the strong UAW union presence there. We just passed Tennessee to become the 5th largest automaking state, so our ranking is likely to be on the line.

Alabama moves up to fifth among automaking states

[Huntsville_secede]

Sites vie for possible Volkswagen plant, including northern Alabama

Posted by Associated Press April 27, 2008 6:32 PM

NASHVILLE -- Automotive analysts and experts expect Volkswagen to consider sites in Chattanooga, the Clarksville area and northern Alabama for a possible new U.S. assembly plant.

The three sites have been certified as automotive manufacturing megasites by the Tennessee Valley Authority's site-selection consulting firm, McCallum Sweeney of Greenville, S.C.

Commerce Park, northeast of Clarksville, Enterprise South, the site of the former Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant in Chattanooga, and the Limestone County Megasite, off Interstate 65 southeast of Athens, Ala., are all viable candidates for the plant, site-selection experts say.

Local officials connected with all three of the sites refused to say whether they are in talks with Volkswagen and declined to talk about the properties in general, The Tennessean reports.

[HSVTiger]

http://www.al.com/business/birminghamnews/....xml&coll=2

Volkswagen might find the region attractive because of a collection of high-tech companies in Huntsville and a highly skilled work force, said Michael Randle, editor and publisher of Birmingham-based Southern Business and Development magazine and a Web site, www.southernautocorridor.com.

"The labor shed up there is incredibly talented because of the cluster of companies they have," he said. "It's just a happening place with incredible deals, and companies like to get on the bandwagon."

In addition, Toyota has done well with its engine assembly plant in Huntsville, Randle said. The facility employs about 1,000 people.

"Toyota has proven that Huntsville in general can draw all the way to Nashville in terms of labor," he said.

Volkswagen said last week it had narrowed its site search for a potential U.S. factory to Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan. Since then, analysts have zeroed in on TVA-certified megasites in Alabama and Tennessee as likely contenders.

Besides the TVA site near Athens, other such sites include those near Chattanooga and Clarksville, Tenn. Certification means the sites have met certain criteria, including those for access, utilities and work force.

Analysts told The (Nashville) Tennessean in a Sunday story that Chattanooga could be the front runner. Meanwhile, Michigan has been roundly discounted.

Randle said the project smells like a TVA deal, noting Volkswagen's key concern about site readiness. But he added that Huntsville's mass annexations could be a clue.

"I've learned that if somebody's annexing a bunch of land, there's a reason," he said.

[Southron]

Dothan officials have been told that the Wiregrass (along with Mobile and the Black Belt) has been eliminated from consideration by Volkswagen, and that the automaker will decide between north Alabama and Tennessee for the plant location. Existing logistics and supplier networks helped make the north Alabama site more attractive.

Dothan Eagle: Volkswagen won't locate in Wiregrass

[3rdGenHuntsvillian]

Could landing this plant in anyway help speed up the Mempis-to-Atlanta highway?

[HSVTiger]

Could landing this plant in anyway help speed up the Memphis-to-Atlanta highway?

[Southron]

Hopefully Volkswagen will pick Alabama, but if this one gets away there may be another possibility down the road. Audi is now considering a US plant, and one would assume that it will be somewhere near parent company Volkswagen's site. The Alabama and Tennessee sites may both be winners in the long run...

Audi CEO signals plans to build U.S. plant

[3rdGenHuntsvillian]

I wonder if one would be better than the other?

[Huntsville_secede]

New TIF may help lure VW plant

Thursday, May 08, 2008

By BOB LOWRY

Times Staff Writer [email protected]

Bill would double Huntsville's abilityto use financial tool

MONTGOMERY - As a potential lure for a Volkswagen assembly plant, the Alabama Legislature is considering a bill that would permit Huntsville to more than double the amount of money that can be leveraged through Tax Increment Financing districts.

A Senate-passed bill cleared a House committee Wednesday and will be up for final passage by the full House on May 19 - the final day of the regular session. The TIF could be used as a financing tool to build roads, sewer and other needs for an industrial park. Huntsville used a TIF to help lure the Toyota engine plant.

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/ind....xml&coll=1

[HSVTiger]

Porsche, Volkswagen and VW's Audi luxury division may build cars together at a proposed U.S. plant in a bid to save costs and reduce the burden of the rising euro, a German magazine reported.

Handelsblatt said building in tandem at one U.S. factory would highlight the potential for the automobile ''empire" of the Piech and Porsche families, who through their holdings in Porsche are the largest shareholders in Volkswagen.

VW has said it is considering Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan for the possible plant.

Plans for the U.S. factory will likely be presented to Volkswagen's supervisory board before the end of July, Handelsblatt said, citing an interview with CEO Martin Winterkorn.

Audi CEO Rupert Stadler has said production could start at a U.S. plant in 2010 at the earliest.

[HSVTiger]

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest carmaker, said today it will outline plans for a production plant in the U.S. in July.

The company says sites in the states of Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan have been named in the running for the new plant -- confirming a report in the German business daily Handelsblatt. But Volkswagen wouldn't yet say where the plant will be.

Volkswagen spokesman Andreas Meurer says any plans will have to be approved by the company's supervisory board, and that actual production at the plant won't start until at least 2010.

Volkswagen closed its last U.S. production plant in 1988.

[HSVTiger]

State flight records checked Tuesday in Montgomery revealed that two state airplanes flew to Huntsville last Wednesday for "economic development" purposes. Tony Harris, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Transportation, declined to identify the project.

"I think you know there is some economic development going on in that area," Harris told The Times.

http://www.al.com/business/huntsvilletimes....xml&coll=1

Huntsville and state leaders were tightlipped Tuesday on whether they met with VW officials last week.

Gov. Bob Riley was in Huntsville last Wednesday, the day VW officials reportedly made the Limestone site visit. Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson declined to "confirm or comment" on whether the governor met with Volkswagen reps in Huntsville.

Riley flew to Huntsville on the state airplane last Wednesday to tout an alternative version of legislation that would remove the state sales tax on groceries and adjust the state income tax filing threshold. Both measures failed Monday on the Legislature's last night.

Harris, governmental relations director for the state DOT, which keeps the state flight logs, said two officials from DOT flew to Huntsville last Wednesday in connection with an economic development project. He identified them as Deputy DOT Director Don Vaughn and Rex Bush, assistant chief.

[Southron]

Some folks in Tennessee are worried that the state may not be able to compete with incentives that will likely be offered by Alabama. In the comments posted for the article below, there was mention of some outstanding remediation issues at the Chattanooga site, but those may not be real.

I've read elsewhere that VW mentioned earlier this year that they want to build a plant in an area no more than 6 hours different from their home time zone. This would favor Chattanooga because the time difference at the Alabama site is 7 hours.

Nashville Tennessean: Can Tenn. outbid Ala. for VW plant?

[HSVTiger]

Some folks in Tennessee are worried that the state may not be able to compete with incentives that will likely be offered by Alabama. In the comments posted for the article below, there was mention of some outstanding remediation issues at the Chattanooga site, but those may not be real.

I've read elsewhere that VW mentioned earlier this year that they want to build a plant in an area no more than 6 hours different from their home time zone. This would favor Chattanooga because the time difference at the Alabama site is 7 hours.

Nashville Tennessean: Can Tenn. outbid Ala. for VW plant?

[HSVTiger]

This being reported on a Chattanooga TV station

Did Chattanooga Just Lose The Volkswagen Plant?

Submitted by WDEF News 12 on May 22, 2008 - 12:37pm. News {sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}} Consumer {sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}} Hamilton County News

A Birmingham based website cites an anonymous source in reporting that Volkswagen has picked a site in Limestone County, Alabama over Chattanooga's Enterprise South for a U.S. plant.

Southernautocorridor.com says its source also provided it with accurate tips that Kia would locate in West Point, Georgia and Hyundai would chose Montgomery, Alabama.

VW has said it will announce its site choice in July and Tennessee, Alabama and Michigan are in the running.

http://www.wdef.com/news/did_chattanooga_j...n_plant/05/2008

[HSVTiger]

Deleted.

[3rdGenHuntsvillian]

That was fun to read! I love the "tension" everybody was feeling in that piece. They could be surveying for anything from the VW plant, the Memphis to Atlanta highway, all the way up to a landing pad for aliens from Mars! It is all very X-Files...

[HSVTiger]

That was fun to read! I love the "tension" everybody was feeling in that piece. They could be surveying for anything from the VW plant, the Memphis to Atlanta highway, all the way up to a landing pad for aliens from Mars! It is all very X-Files...

[3rdGenHuntsvillian]

Sites in Limestone County and Chattanooga are believed to be the finalists for a Volkswagen plant. Speculation has been rampant in the wake of the annexation by Huntsville of thousands of Limestone County acres that Huntsville also wanted to annex the TVA megasite between U.S. 31 South and Interstate 65.

However, with the state approved TIF, Huntsville could be developing its own megasite north of Greenbrier with an eye to attracting the Volkswagen plant.

[HSVTiger]

I'm confused. Are they talking about two "megasites" or one? I thought when Huntsville annexed that land that made the city limit touch Athens that it was the TVA megasite.

If it IS two megasites, then maybe VW is looking for a place where they can have both the VW plant and the Audi plant close to each other. Boy, wouldn't that be HUGE!

[HSVTiger]

The state is pulling out all the stops..

MONTGOMERY - Proximity to Huntsville was cited Monday by Gov. Bob Riley as the prime reason for selecting Calhoun Community College for a $71 million robotics training and education center that could become an industry magnet.

Lawmakers from North Alabama said after the announcement they hope the selection of Calhoun would be the tipping point in persuading Volkswagen to select a site in Limestone County for an assembly plant.

Neal Wade, director of the Alabama Development Office, and other state officials, were reportedly in Huntsville Monday for a meeting with Volkswagen officials, who are also considering a site in Chattanooga.

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/ind....xml&coll=1

[HSVTiger]

Gov. Bob Riley said Wednesday that Alabama should know soon if it has landed two prize economic development projects.

The governor likes the state's chances in landing both a Volkswagen plant in Limestone County and a Solvay Pharmaceuticals plant in Birmingham.

"I think Alabama is the correct choice" for Volkswagen, Riley said in an interview. "We are currently in the process of addressing some issues they have raised."

http://www.al.com/business/birminghamnews/....xml&coll=2