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Southern Sites Set to Expand

By no means have auto makers retreated from the southern auto belt. In fact, a number of major new investments in manufacturing and assembly facilities have been announced recently. BMW Group has completed a $600 million expansion of its Spartanburg, S.C., plant, adding a thousand jobs and doubling the size of the facility to 2.1 million sq. ft. (195,000 sq. m.).

DaimlerChrysler Corp. announced plans in August 2000 for its own $600 million plant expansion at the Tuscaloosa, Ala., Mercedes-Benz plant. Construction is slated to begin by mid-2001. Ultimately, the work force will more than double to 4,000 people, and twice the number of M-class vehicles will be produced -- approximately 160,000 annually. Daimler-Benz AG, now DaimlerChrysler, initially chose the Tuscaloosa site in 1993. This new investment is the third expansion of the plant, which originally produced 65,000 vehicles a year.

The State of Alabama has agreed to a $64.9 million improvement package. DaimlerChrysler will also qualify for statutory tax abatements totaling $54.4 million. With the new expansion, DaimlerChrysler could become the fifth largest employer in Alabama, with more than 7,000 employees between its Chrysler electronics plant in Huntsville and the Tuscaloosa Mercedes-Benz facility.

According to DaimlerChrysler spokesman Austin Dare in Tuscaloosa, the current 966-acre (391-ha.) site has ample space upon which to expand. "We're very pleased with our Tuscaloosa site. We've got a strong work force and a commitment by the state and the people of the state. We've also got the success of the vehicle itself," Dare says. "It's a very good situation."

BMW is also building a new regional parts-distribution center in Senatobia, Miss. The 200,000-sq.-ft. (18,600-sq.-m.) facility, designed to grow with BMW, will have the capacity to stock inventory for 75,000 different parts numbers, and will employ up to 75 people from the surrounding area. "We have seen record growth in our new car sales for the last several years, and with new vehicles coming, we need to keep pace with that growth," explains Doolan of BMW North America. "We examined several locations in the mid-south and southeastern U.S., and selected Senatobia for several reasons. The community is close to major transportation corridors and air transport hubs; it has a qualified labor pool; and the quality of life is high." BMW's two other regional parts-distribution centers are in Olive, N.J., and Ontario, Calif.