VW considers U.S. plant

[53x19]

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news...67551_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESS-VOLKSWAGEN-US-DC.XML

 

[Dimitri16V]

Chrysler plant in Newark will be closing in 2009. This is a newer plant, off I95 with its own dedicated railway tracks and wilmington port close by.
It would be a great choise if VW NA gets it arss out of its head..

 

[CoriolisSTORM]

If they were to do that, chances are, I'd move up there just to work at it. For the record, I am in industrial maintenance...

 

[Dimitri16V]

there are interested buyers ... delaware is in negotiations with manufacturers who are interested to buy this plant. the state will throw its usual tax breaks etc..

 

[TornadoRed]

There are plants near St Louis and Bloomington IL, also. And several in Michigan. But there are good reasons why VW would not buy some other company's old facility, unless it has state-of-the-art equipment that could be easily converted for VW assembly.

I assume VW would prefer a non-union plant, so any state without a right-to-work law can forget about it.

I also assume VW does not want to inherit any employee benefit obligations from another company.

So figure on VW building a new plant from scratch, somewhere in the South-eastern US.

 

[mmalluck]

I know here in Savannah Ga, we have a huge track of land that was cleared to attract some auto manufacturers, but is currently unused. Chrysler was courted at some point in time, but the deal fell thru (Sept 11 fall-out). It would be great if VW came out here. After all, we have one of the largest Atlantic ports that is the furthest west, so to speak.

Come and get it VW!

 

[CoriolisSTORM]

Nah, we need 'em this away! Maybe a partnership with some of MB's suppliers and such? T-Town already has a good infrastructure in place, as do several other cities due to all of the automotive manufacturers that have come to the state in the past few years.

 

[mrGutWrench]

There are plants near St Louis and Bloomington IL, also. And several in Michigan. (snip)

__. I hear that there's a great deal on a plant in Westmoreland, PA. Seems some furrin company bought it, screwed around with it for a while, then ditched it and moved away. Should be cheap ....

 

[compu_85]

Don't they make Sony TVs there?

-J

 

[Steve-o]

Don't they make Sony TVs there?

They do ... for now.

 

[cage]

Once they add up health care costs etc... They'll change their minds. They'll just build another plant in Mexico.

 

[CoriolisSTORM]

I heard somewhere that the Japanese companies were complaining about it being cheaper to build 'em back home and ship them here than to have factories here. I'd vote for a non unionized factory as well.

 

[TornadoRed]

There are reports today that VW subsidiary SEAT is looking to build one or two models in Mexico, and probably at Puebla. I don't know if this would involve a brand new assembly line, or a switch-over when the New Beetle production finishes up.

 

[hevster1]

The reason the Japanese started to build them here(at least in Toyota's case) was that they were afraid of import restrictions which were being heralded as the savior for the US car industry. Thats why you have the stickers on the windows which state what %age of the car is made where. At one time the Toyota Camry had 97% US content which was better than ANY US manufacturer. Sad. When MB purchased Chrysler my mom still freelanced for MBNA. The Germans couldn't believe the golden parachutes, huge salaries, and ridiculous amounts of VP's and managers that were everywhere. A lower level VP made more than the chairman of DBAG in Germany. The German's couldn't figure out what half of them were in charge of. Classic case of too many chiefs and not enough indians wrecking havoc on a company. Same at GM and Ford. MB had so much residual debt from the golden parachutes etc. that they couldn't get Chrysler profitable so they dumped it now. The workers, union or not had little to do with it.

 

[anahata]

handbook

Nothing like a good non-union workplace where a psychotic boss can delete pay formulas force you to make his lunch on your 15 minute break while he jams the company "employee handbook" down your throat and, Feds permitting, gut work-place safety provisions like maximum hours worked consecutively etc. (fed. standards and OSHA are already hollow shells) It's a good thing robots do most of the work anyway. Eventually those Chinese and Mexicans will win the right to fully organize themselves. The conditions some of those workers endure in these countries making goods "competitively" are BRUTAL beyond living memory of modern US citizens.

 

[Scott_DeWitt]

The Germans couldn't believe the golden parachutes, huge salaries, and ridiculous amounts of VP's and managers that were everywhere. A lower level VP made more than the chairman of DBAG in Germany. The German's couldn't figure out what half of them were in charge of. Classic case of too many chiefs and not enough indians wrecking havoc on a company.

That is the farse of american business and 9/10 of the reason why the us is failing in the world economy.