  Detroitman Member Username: Detroitman Post Number: 1081 Registered: 06-2004 |
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a pps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2008 0424/REG/44435544/1069 | ||
Shark Member Username: Shark Post Number: 358 Registered: 12-2003 |
I hope they do build here so I can yell: WHAT YOU DRIVE DRIVES MICHIGAN. | ||
Thoswolfe Member Username: Thoswolfe Post Number: 52 Registered: 11-2007 |
Ha! I once was pulled at the side of the road, putting away my jack and the flat tire. A car pulled along side of me, he yelled I wouldn't have been stranded if I drove an American car. ??? He drove a Crown Vic, made in Canada. I was driving a Rabbit, made in Pennsylvania (at that time) And Fords don't get flat tires? | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12547 Registered: 12-2003 |
Hatred never seems to get flat tires, nor pulled over for boneheaded moves in rush hour. Got a client up in Fenton who used to be the head troubleshooter in VWs short-lived Pennsylvania plant, I owned three vehicles built there and loved them all. (78-84?) I wish I had one of those original GTIs back in my shed, actually, it was easily one of the finest vehicles I've ever owned...great driver response, easy to maintain and shade-tree repair, efficient and fun as heck. Sony later turned that plant into the last American-made television assembly joint...with Corning's helluva glass plant across the street making picture tubes, it was quite an operation. All of my friends who bought televisions then own American-made Sony's! Those vintage CRT sets still remain at the top of my favorites list. If VW can remember their roots and make a people's car on our shores...easily home repairable, small, quirky, cheap...their sales would skyrocket. If ONLY they would build a citycar for the US... | ||
Gaz Member Username: Gaz Post Number: 137 Registered: 04-2008 |
I hope they decide to come here and choose Detroit! God knows the area needs the jobs, and the infastructure is there. | ||
Hockey_guy Member Username: Hockey_guy Post Number: 34 Registered: 11-2007 |
I hope they come here too. I don't think they will though. No foreign auto maker has had a plant here, maybe their scared of the unions here. | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 2051 Registered: 05-2005 |
i guarantee they go to a right to work state. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 4678 Registered: 02-2005 |
They will choose Alabama. It would be an absolute gift if MI got it, and it would be because their product is superior and they know what they build here will sell (unlike the Big 3), and because they will have won a good deal with the unions. I would love to see it because of the jobs, and to give another example to the buy American camp of how blurry the lines are these days, and how their rhetoric is senseless blather. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 11547 Registered: 10-2003 |
I wonder if VW execs will stop by American Axle. That will make their decision about Michigan a little too easy. | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 5346 Registered: 10-2003 |
Well, what are the advantages for them to build it here? | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 6399 Registered: 11-2003 |
Invoking Skipper's rules. The article says nothing, explains no locations, and is basically a pipe dream. Believe it when you see it. What the DID say was that VW moved FROM Detroit to Va. Maybe they can't get good brats over there and are jonesing for a Detroit Coney Island. jjaba. | ||
Detroitman Member Username: Detroitman Post Number: 1082 Registered: 06-2004 |
If Michigan does get this plant, it will most likely go on the west side of the state. Unions are not as much of an influence over there as they are in Detroit. | ||
Perfectgentleman Member Username: Perfectgentleman Post Number: 5074 Registered: 03-2006 |
The UAW strike at American Axle is turning them off, don't count on seeing this plant here. | ||
Sharmaal Member Username: Sharmaal Post Number: 1305 Registered: 09-2004 |
VW is no stranger to unions. But, I doubt Michigan is a contender in this race. (Message edited by sharmaal on April 24, 2008) | ||
Thoswolfe Member Username: Thoswolfe Post Number: 53 Registered: 11-2007 |
VW did once build a plant in Sterling Heights. Ended up bailing from that project and selling the plant to Chrysler. | ||
Thegryphon Member Username: Thegryphon Post Number: 50 Registered: 11-2007 |
There is a foriegn car co. plant in MI. Mazda has a plant in Flat Rock. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 5947 Registered: 10-2003 |
Yes, VW is especially familiar with unions. Hell, they are headquartered in Germany. Anyway, I doubt they will move the plant, here. It wouldn't make sense for them to move their American headquarters south, but then choose to build a plant up here. I think the only reason Michigan is listed as a contender is because Granholm has been trying like hell to get foreign auto companies to invest in Michigan, and with limited success, thus far. | ||
Otter Member Username: Otter Post Number: 112 Registered: 12-2007 |
Was VW's old plant in Westmoreland, PA union or not? I would assume not, but I don't know, and I figger maybe someone here does. I didn't know that SHAP was originally construected by VW?? Flat Rock is a joint venture, with the Mazda 6 built in one area and the Mustang in another. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 4685 Registered: 02-2005 |
Mazda is owned by Ford. Not a joint venture in a real, economic sense. Yes, two seperate types of vehicle are made here, but it's just like jeeps [or is it just their engines] and vipers being made at Jefferson North in Detroit. | ||
Thoswolfe Member Username: Thoswolfe Post Number: 54 Registered: 11-2007 |
Very unlikely VW would build an assembly plant in Michigan now, with even the HQ relocated. Chattanooga TN has bid recently for Hyundai,Kia,Toyota plants, etc.Hamilton county and city Chattanooga took ownership of the closed Army base.They annexed the property into city limits,then turned it into an Industrial Park but have not allowed 'small players' to build plants there. Couple years ago they even added a new exit and overpass from I-75 which goes nowhere- until they get a big factory built in that Industrial Park. | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 5347 Registered: 10-2003 |
Well, they are having their Routan minivan built in Windsor by Chrysler. I can see their fear of unions, but Michigan has so much more to offer as far as research and development. If I were scouting for a site, I would take into consideration the amount of local research and support. I’d also look at the quality and education of the workforce. The Nissan plant in Mississippi had to create illustrative instructions created because most of workers were too stupid to comprehend written instructions. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 6400 Registered: 11-2003 |
Patrick tells it like it tis. Mississippi has been #50 of 50 in education forever. jjaba. | ||
Firstandten Member Username: Firstandten Post Number: 154 Registered: 05-2006 |
These companies are not going to build an assy plant in Michigan period. They will put engineering/technical centers here but not assy plants. When that place was known as Mazda Motor Mfg NA the union whipped the company so bad the parent company ended up bringing the president back to Japan. The other Japanese companies saw what happened. That's why you haven't seen any foreign auto assy plants in Michigan. | ||
Single_malt Member Username: Single_malt Post Number: 39 Registered: 02-2008 |
Why start a foreign car assembly plant now...how many have slipped through our fingers through the past few years? This deal is not going to happen in Michigan. I think we missed the boat on 6 or 7 or so new plants...why start now? | ||
Cushkid Member Username: Cushkid Post Number: 97 Registered: 08-2005 |
Ford leases the plant from Mazda, The Mazda 6 and the Mustang come down the same line all day. | ||
Romanized Member Username: Romanized Post Number: 264 Registered: 02-2005 |
Patrick, I'd double check that story. The Mississippi plant had a higher percentage of college grads on the line than most plants in the county. And even if what you say is true, it'd be 1000% smarter to build there than in Michigan. | ||
Otter Member Username: Otter Post Number: 115 Registered: 12-2007 |
Mackinaw, Ford has a controlling interest (a minority interest, but enough of one to be effectively controlling under Japanese law) in Mazda, but does not own it in the same sense that it owned, say, Jaguar. Mazda operates largely independent from Ford, at the same time that they share a lot of platform engineering. Also, the Viper is not built at the Jefferson plant - it is built further north on Conner Ave., between Outer Dr. and 8 Mile. Patrick, Why do you think Nissan's workers in MS are stupid? | ||
Rooms222 Member Username: Rooms222 Post Number: 107 Registered: 04-2005 |
UAW Local 2055..... http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f ullpage.html?res=9C06E3DB1139F 932A35752C1A967948260&n=Top/Ne ws/U.S./U.S.%20States,%20Terri tories%20and%20Possessions/Pen nsylvania I had two of the Pennsylvania UAW-made VWs, and both were incredibly good cars. The 1987 Golf that I bought used was always remembered by the oil change shop as being one of the cleanest engines they had ever seen. The engine was still running strong @ 175,000 miles when there were too many non-powertrain issues for me to fix. I gave it to a fellow churchgoer in Brightmoor who had it all fixed up and running great in less than a week. (Message edited by rooms222 on April 25, 2008) | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 6402 Registered: 11-2003 |
There's plenty of successful automotive production in the South. Fords in Atlanta, GM in Arlington, Texas come to mind. jjaba. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6720 Registered: 08-2004 |
Thoswolfe, VW never actually built a plant in Sterling Heights. The plant in Sterling Heights used to be a missile plant that VW purchased but never ended up using. That's when they sold it to Chrysler. |
