Special Features

Watch Part 1

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• Alabama Development Office (ADO)
  ADO is the state agency that works to promote economic development in Alabama. The agency's director, Neal Wade, is interviewed in Part 1 of Jeff Yastine's series.
• American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA)
  AIADA represents the "international nameplate automobile franchises" operating in the U.S. The site contains information about the assembly plant Kia is building in West Point, Georgia.
• "The Auto Industry Moving South: An Examination of Trends" (PDF Document)
  This 2003 paper was published by the Center for Automotive Research.
• BMW Zentrum
  BMW Zentrum is the visitor center for BMW's only U.S. plant, which is located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Among other things, the site offers a virtual tour of the the Spartanburg BMW factory.
• Honda Manufacturing of Alabama
  Honda Manufacturing of Alabama is based in Lincoln, Alabama. The website includes details about the company and the vehicle models it produces.
• Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama
  Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama is the foreign automaker's first assembly plant in the U.S. The website offers information about the plant and the vehicles it produces.
• Mercedes-Benz U.S. International
  Mercedes-Benz U.S. International is based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The company's website offers information about the Tuscaloosa factory and the vehicle models it produces.
• Nissan
  This links to the web page Nissan's News Bureau created to present information about the company's Canton, Mississippi factory.
• SouthernAutoCorridor.com
  SouthernAutoCorridor.com "is a product of Southern Business & Development magazine." The site offers information on automotive industry-focused economic development happening in the southern U.S. The site's publisher, Mike Randle, is interviewed in Part 1 of Jeff Yastine's series.
• Toyota
  This links to the web page Toyota created to detail its manufacturing efforts in Texas.

*Clicking these external links will take you off the NBR web site on PBS.org. NBR has no affiliation with these sites.

Watch Part 2

Learn More About This Topic:

• Alabama Development Office (ADO)
  ADO is the state agency that works to promote economic development in Alabama. The agency has worked to bring foreign automakers to the state.
• City of Columbus, Mississippi
  Columbus, Mississippi is one of many towns benefitting from the South's auto manufacturing boom.
• Columbus-Lowndes Economic Development
  This organization promotes economic development in Mississippi's Lowndes County, which is home to the city of Columbus. Joe Higgins, one of the organization's recuriters, is interviewed in Part 2 of Jeff Yastine's series.
• City of Lincoln, Alabama
  Lincoln, Alabama is home to Honda Manufacturing of Alabama. Mayor Carroll "Lew" Watson of Lincoln is interviewed in Part 2 of Jeff Yastine's series.
• EurocopterUSA
  Eurocopter -- a division of EADS -- is another foreign company that has established manufacturing operations in America's South. The company, which is mentioned in Jeff Yastine's report, has plants in Columbus, Mississippi and Grand Prairie, Texas.
• "Gone South: Decline and Renewal in the U.S. Auto Industry"
  This 2006 paper was published by the Corporate Research Project, "a non-profit center that assists community, environmental and labor organizations in researching and analyzing companies and industries."
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA)
  This links to information MOFA offers about the "Contribution of U.S.-Based Japanese Automakers
  to the U.S. Economy." The most recent data offered is for the year 1995.

*Clicking these external links will take you off the NBR web site on PBS.org. NBR has no affiliation with these sites.

Watch Part 3

Learn More About This Topic:

• Arkansas Economic Development Office
  This agency works to promote economic development in Arkansas and is currently pushing to attract automanufacturers to its southeastern region. The agency's director, Jim Pickens, is interviewed in Part 3 of Jeff Yastine's series.
• "The Automobile Industry Goes into Lower Gear"
  This 2005 article was published in Knowledge@Wharton (Universia edition), the online business journal of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. The article examines problems the automobile industry as a whole is experiencing.
• Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS)
  CAVS is located at Mississippi State University. The center's research and engineering efforts are "focused on developing superior computational, engineering, manufacturing, design, and information technologies relevant to Mississippi industries." The Director of CAVS, Randall German, is interviewed in Part 3 of Jeff Yastine's series.
• Center for Automotive Research (CAR)
  CAR is a nonprofit organization that conducts research about and forecasts trends in the automotive industry. Steven Szakaly, one of the organization's economists, is interviewed in Part 3 of Jeff Yastine's series.
• Discover Arkansas
  The Discover Arkansas website offers "Labor Market Information for the State of Arkansas." This links to facts and data the site offers about the Southeast Arkansas, which is the region working to attract automakers.
• Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA)
  JAMA is "a nonprofit trade association for Japanese car, truck, bus and motorcycle manufacturers. The website offers production data as well as a library of position papers.
• The Level Field Institute
  The Level Field Institute is an organization created by retired employees of American auto manufacturing firms and their suppliers. While the organization welcomes foreign automakers' efforts in the U.S., it argues that American carmakers still support more jobs in the U.S. than their foreign competitors.

*Clicking these external links will take you off the NBR web site on PBS.org. NBR has no affiliation with these sites.

• The reporting team of Jeff Yastine, correspondent, and Mike Malanga, videographer, journeyed to a number of locations throughout the southeastern United States to put NBR's "Detroit South" series together. They took along a digital camera and captured a few behind-the-scenes images along the way. Click on the link below to explore a gallery of these images.

• Detroit South : Behind-the-Scenes Gallery