Or, Why Greensboro Will Never LURE An Automobile Manufacturing Plant
We hear talk all the time of attracting an automaker to the Triad. Problem is: every city in the nation and around the world is also trying to attract automakers. Take for example the City of Aguascalientes in Mexico, the recent recipient of a $2 Billion Dollar Nissan plant and soon to be a possible home to Daimler AG (Chrysler and Mercedes.) As a matter of fact: the auto industry is moving to Mexico in a very big way for the following reasons cited in this NBC article, Once sleepy Mexican town becoming new Motor City.
"Cheap labor is clearly a factor. While Nissan and competing makers don’t reveal wages, the general consensus is that labor costs, including benefits and taxes, are running about 20 percent of what makers pay north of the border, or about $10 an hour – which can translate into savings of $1,000 a car;
Proximity to key markets in both North and South America helps, as well, with shipping costs much lower than for products built in Europe or Asia. It’s also close to the established U.S. parts-making network;
Mexico has further reduced costs for its automakers by having negotiated more than 100 free trade agreements, reportedly more than any country other than Israel."
Yep, if you want to win the game you have to set yourself apart and do something no one else is doing. Well it just so happens an Italian automaker has done just that and with 500 never before used acres at the White Street Landfill, Greensboro needs to take a serious look at the Tabby by OS Vehicle and think about building our own car company on the grounds of the White Street Landfill.
After all, haven't you always heard that if you want something done right then you have to do it yourself?
I mean, it's not like we have to stick with the Italian powerplant forever. Over the years, Yamaha has built engines for Ford, Volvo and Toyota. Toyota built engines for Chevrolet. Mazda built engines for Ford. Ford and Chevy built engines for Checker. Lots of manufacturers build parts for other manufacturers. As the Greensboro Car Company grows we could buy engines and transmissions from dozens of different sources. And because design is open source we have the lowest design overhead in the entire automobile industry.
And we do have 500 never before used acres at the White Street Landfill and landfill gas to provide electricity to help power the plant. Beats the heck out of shipping leaves to Japan, don't you think.
By the way, those leaves in the landfill can be converted to pellets (Part 7) and sold or given to the poor for fuel for clean burning, carbon neutral pellet stoves.Seriously folks, the people in charge of this city are dumb as a mud fence when it comes to finding solutions to Greensboro's problems.
Want to go back and start with Part 1? That was the link, click it.
