WASHINGTON — If it’s no surprise that Michigan lawmakers are behind the pitch for a $25 billion lifeline for Detroit automakers, then it might be just as predictable that Southerners would be leading the charge against it.
Southern politicians have spent years luring foreign automakers to build cars in their states, with huge success. South Carolina has BMW. Mississippi recently landed a major plant for Toyota Motor Corp. Alabama boasts plants run by Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co.
In Georgia, the governor recently began using a Kia SUV in honor of the company’s planned $1.2 billion manufacturing facility there.
It’s not that Southerners are secretly wishing for the Big Three to collapse. But if those automakers were to falter, the new players are poised to ramp up production and possibly turn the South into the next Detroit.
“In the long run, having fewer competitors or weaker competitors is generally a good thing,” said Efraim Levy, a senior auto-industry analyst with Standard & Poor’s. “It would contribute to a greater relative strength in the South.”
The regional divide is not black and white. Most Southern states still have a stake in the well-being of the Big Three and would suffer their own losses if the companies drastically scaled back operations or closed their doors.
