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The incredible strength of the automotive industry in the American South

By Mike Randle

Pessimists can say whatever they want about the South's economy, but one thing they can't say is that the automotive industry isn't leading the region out of the depths of the Great Recession. While it is impossible to extract an exact figure, Southern Business & Development estimates that more than 84,000 new jobs have been created in the Southern Automotive Corridor by original equipment manufacturers and suppliers to the automotive industry since the recession ended midway through 2009. Outside of the oil and gas industry, we can't think of any sector more important to the South's economy than the automotive sector. Plants in the SAC are maxed out, with many adding third shifts as this is being written. We are sure the same is being said about the automotive industry in the Midwest. Who knows, without the lifeline provided by the federal government to GM and Chrysler, Michigan and Ohio might be a dust bowl now. In the last three years, the automotive industry has generated about 145,000 jobs nationwide.

To give you an idea of the strength of the automotive sector in the Southern Automotive Corridor (www.SouthernAutoCorridor.com), check out the last seven quarters' ten-largest project employment announcements made in the entire South.

**Top Deals Fall 2010 -**

**Four out of 10 automotive**
	Development	Jobs	Location
1	Ford Motor Co.	1,800	Louisville, Ky.
2	Ryla	1,400	Kennesaw, Ga.
3	Amazon.com	1,200	Lexington Co., S.C.
4	Gulfstream	1,000	Savannah, Ga.
5	Kia Motors	1,000	West Point, Ga.
6	Capital One	1,000	Henrico Co., Va.
7	Bank of America	1,000	Jacksonville, Fla.
8	Northrop Grumman	700	Pascagoula, Miss.
9	BMW	600	Greer, S.C.
10	Volkswagen	500	Chattanooga, Tenn.

**Top Deals Winter 2011 -**

**Two out of 10 automotive**
	Development	Jobs	Location
1	Austal USA	2,000	Mobile, Ala.
2	Electrolux	1,200	Memphis, Tenn.
3	Macy's	1,200	Martinsburg, W. Va.
4	Stion	1,000	Hattiesburg, Miss.
5	AQT Solar	1,000	Richland Co., S.C.
6	Freightliner	629	Gaston Co., N.C.
7	Diversity Vuteq	600	New Albany, Miss.
8	Verizon	500	Columbia, S.C.
9	Midair USA	450	Melbourne, Fla.
10	Shoals Technolgies	400	Portland, Tenn.
	Polo Ralph Lauren	400	High Point, N.C.

**Top Deals Spring 2011 -**

**One out of 10 automotive**
	Development	Jobs	Location
1	Connextions, Inc.	1,200	Charlotte, N.C.
2	eBay	1,050	Austin, Tex.
3	Gulfstream	1,000	Savannah, Ga.
4	IQT	900	Nashville, Tenn.
5	Daimler Trucks	700	Gaston Co., N.C.
6	Dollar General	650	Bessemer, Ala.
7	Great American Steamboat	589	Memphis, Tenn.
8	GE	500	Ft. Worth, Tex.
9	ICF International	500	Martinsville, Va.
10	Standard Candy	400	Nashville, Tenn.

**Top Deals Summer 2011 -**

**Two out of 10 automotive**
	Development	Jobs	Location
1	Newport News Shipbuilding	15,000	Newport News, Va.
2	General Motors	1,710	Spring Hill, Tenn.
3	Affiliated Computer	1,500	Raleigh, N.C.
4	SandRidge Energy	1,333	Oklahoma City, Okla.
5	Calisolar	951	Columbus, Miss.
6	Convergys	900	Jacksonville, Fla.
7	Bridgestone Americas	850	Aiken, S.C.
8	JP Morgan Chase	700	Lewisville, Tex.
9	Lowe's	600	Rome, Ga.
10	Schumacher Group	600	Lafayette, La.

**Top Deals Fall 2011 -**

**Five out of 10 automotive**
	Development	Jobs	Location
1	GM	1,900	Spring Hill, Tenn.
2	Continental Tire	1,700	Sumter, S.C.
3	GM	1,660	Wentzville, Mo.
4	Ford	1,600	Claycomo, Mo.
5	TD Bank	1,600	Greenville, S.C.
6	Halliburton	1,500	San Antonio, Tex.
7	American Railcar	1,400	Arkansas
8	Margaritaville Casino	1,262	Bossier City, La.
9	Bed Bath & Beyond	900	Jackson Co., Ga.
10	Bridgestone	850	Aiken, S.C.

**Top Deals Winter 2012 -**

**Two out of 10 automotive**
	Development	Jobs	Location
1	Caterpillar	1,400	Athens, Ga.
2	Amazon	1,350	Richmond, Va.
3	Freightliner	1,100	Cleveland, N.C.
4	Nissan	1,000	Smyrna, Tenn.
5	Margaritaville	1,000	Biloxi, Miss.
6	OCI Power	800	San Antonio, Tex.
7	Nephron Pharma	700	Columbia, S.C.
8	Whole Foods	650	Austin, Tex.
9	RATO North America	600	Lincoln Co., N.C.
10	GE	600	Louisville, Ky.
	Sutherland Global	600	Alexandria, La.

**Top Deals Spring 2012 -**

**Five out of 10 automotive**
	Development	Jobs	Location
1	ExxonMobil	2,000	The Woodlands, Tex.
2	Baxter International	1,500	Covington, Ga.
3	Airbus	1,000	Mobile, Ala.
4	Texas A&M University	1,000	College Station, Tex.
5	Ashley Furniture	1,000	Davie Co., N.C.
6	LumaStream	1,000	St. Petersburg, Fla.
7	Nissan	1,000	Canton, Miss.,
8	Hyundai	877	Montgomery, Ala.
9	Magneti Marelli	800	Pulski, Tenn.
10	Emerson	800	Round Rock, Tex.
	GM	800	Arlington, Tex.

To sum it up, 21 of the 70-largest job-generating announcements made in the South in the last seven quarters -- not quite two years -- came from the automotive sector. That's exactly 30 percent of the biggest deals announced in the South since the fall quarter of 2010.

In the last two decades, only call centers, distribution, financial services and health care announcements have challenged automotive in large, game-changing projects. That's all changed. Today, only oil and gas, health care and headquarter job-generating projects can even claim they are in the same ballpark as the automotive industry.

Mike Randle is the editor and publisher of The Randle Report and Southern Business & Development (www.sb-d.com). You can contact Mike at mike@sb-d.com.

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