The New Domestic Automakers in the United States and Canada

History, Impacts, and Prospects

A.J. Jacobs

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9780739188262
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Over the past forty years, state/provincial and local governments in the United States and Canada have provided foreign automakers with approximately $4.80 billion in incentives in order to lure light vehicles assembly plants to their areas. This has included tax abatements, infrastructure construction, land giveaways, job training programs, and other subsidies. As of early 2015, ten foreign vehicle makers operated 20 light vehicles in developed North America. Despite the fact that all ten of these automakers have pursued a similar pattern—first exporting vehicles into the United States and Canada before launching vehicle plants in developed North America—each has followed its own specific historical development path and has created its own unique growth trajectory.This book provides a unique historical and qualitative review of these ten vehicle makers, from their early beginnings to their export entry into the United States and/or Canada through early 2015. In addition, it chronicles the histories of more than a dozen former automakers and potential future foreign light motor vehicle assembly plants in the United States and Canada. This includes the first foreign automaker to build its cars in the United States, De Dion-Bouton of France in July 1900, the early 20th Century endeavors of Fiat, Mercedes, and Rolls Royce, and the present day hopes of Chinese and Indian automakers. In the process, the text also provides an assessment of the top competing states and sites for any future plants, the possible incentives packages governments may offer to attract such facilities, and an estimated incentive value for each automaker.
Overall, the goal of this book is to expand the knowledge of policymakers at all tiers of government in the United States and Canada and to help them take a more holistic look at the pros and cons of attracting Automobile Manufacturing FDI. It is hoped that this will enable them to make more informed decisions when pursuing a new foreign motor vehicle assembly plant. Its findings should also prove informative to urban and regional planning, political science, sociology, economics, labor, and international development scholars and students in North America and worldwide.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview
• Part I: The Early Foreign Automaker Plants in theUnited States and Canada
• Chapter 2: First European and Foreign Automaker Plants in the United States: 1900s-1940s
• Chapter 3: The Golden Age for European Cars in North America Part I
• Chapter 4: The Golden Age for European Cars in North America Part II
• Chapter 5: Birth of the Japanese New Domestics
• Part II: The Japanese Invasion and the Birth of the New Domestic Automakers
• Chapter 6: Imports, Trade Friction, and the Japanese Invasion Part I
• Chapter 7: Japanese Invasion Part II
• Chapter 8: The Second Wave of Japanese Auto Transplants Part I
• Chapter 9: The Second Wave of Japanese Auto Transplants Part II
• Part III: Here Come the German Luxury and South Korean Automakers
• Chapter 10: Here Come the Germans Part I
• Chapter 11: Here Come the Germans Part II
• Chapter 12: Then Came the Koreans
• Part IV: Who’s Coming and When? Predicting the Future Expansions of Foreign Automakers
• Chapter 13: The New Big Three
• Chapter 14: The Potential Near-Term Expansions of Japan’s Smaller Producers in the United States and Canada
• Chapter 15: Projections for European Automaker Expansions in the United States and Canada
• Chapter 16: Projections for Korean and Chinese Automaker Expansions in the United States and Canada
• Chapter 17: European Acquisitions and Projections for Indian Automaker Plants in the United States and Canada
• Part V: Planning for the Future: Assessing the Automakers, Sites, and Summary
• Chapter 18: Worth the Investment?
• Chapter 19: Top Sites/Areas Competing for the Next Major Foreign Auto Assembly Plants
• Chapter 20: Summary and Concluding Thoughts Regarding the New Domestics and Foreign Automakers in the United States and Canada
• References Cited
• About the Author