Let's Make A Deal:
Top 10 Deals in the South the Last 10 Years

Auto manufacturers dominate our list of the decade's top business investments.

By Don Hampton

They are transforming the economic landscape of the South. And, in the process, they have made headlines.

A growing number of large international corporations have made major announcements of new facilities in the South. They've infused the region with economic opportunity and a renewed sense of the quality of the "Made in America" seal.

No industry has impacted the Southern economy over the past decade as much as the automotive manufacturers. Mercedes, Nissan, Honda, BMW and Hyundai all made our list by expanding their operations to Southern locations.

Here, then, are the top ten business investments of the past ten years:

In 1993, Mercedes-Benz selected an Alabama site for its new facility. It was the first time in company history Mercedes had created a passenger auto manufacturing plant outside Germany. In 1997, production of the Mercedes M-Class began at the company's Vance, Ala. facility. Then, on August 28, 2000, the company announced a $600 million expansion of the plant. "This expansion is a direct result of the hard work and commitment of our team members," said Bill Taylor, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International speaking about the workers his company found in the South.

The facility originally represented a $300 million capital investment by the company, and 1,900 jobs to the community. The expansion is expected to increase the employee number to nearly 4,000. Professor Juergen Hubbert, DCAS member of the board for Mercedes-Benz and smart passenger vehicles said, "Our success would not have been possible without the great partnership we formed with the State of Alabama and without the strong workforce that we have found here. Alabama has become an important home for Mercedes-Benz."

In 1999, a second auto manufacturer found a home in Alabama. Honda announced plans to build a manufacturing facility in Lincoln to produce Odyssey minivans. The announcement has further impacted the local economy with 10 Honda-related businesses following the parent company to Alabama.

The company's $580 million, 1.7 million square-foot plant began operation last November, and has already produced 15,000 minivans. More than 2,000 people are employed at the facility. Honda officials recently announced an expansion that will basically double the size of the plant.

Then a third automotive company came to Alabama. On April 2, 2002, Hyundai announced it would build a $1 billion plant just south of Montgomery, creating at least 2,000 jobs. "This is the biggest economic development project in the history of Alabama," said Gov. Don Siegelman.

Hyundai also plans to bring 20 primary suppliers and up to 120 other suppliers to Alabama. Fifteen-thousand Hyundai-related jobs will move to Alabama over the next five years.

Not that Alabama has a monopoly on the auto industry. Mississippi was busy in 2000. Nissan Motor Company selected Canton for a $930 million manufacturing facility. The plant will potentially employ 4,000 in the near future, with a capacity of 250,000 vehicles created annually. "Mississippians look forward to the job opportunities and the positive economic impact that will be created by Nissan, as well as the support Nissan will provide to state and local community activities," said Gov. Ronnie Musgrove.

And BMW has found South Carolina very much to its liking. So much so that the company located its only North American assembly plant in Greer.

Today, the company has found a home in the Palmetto State, investing more than $1.4 billion and employing more than 4,000 people. BMW Manufacturing Corp. in South Carolina is now the exclusive producer of the German automobile maker's highly popular Z3 Roadster as well as the M Roadster, the Z3 Coupe, the M Coupe and the X5 Sports Activity Vehicle.

As Vice President for Community and Corporate Relations, Carl Flesher explains, "The secret to our success in South Carolina is the people. My chairman would tell you that he came here incognito for about six months and drove through neighborhoods, he went into restaurants and went to the movies and he said, 'I spent time looking into people's faces trying to find out: could we build BMW products here?' And he came to the conclusion that with the obvious sense of pride and the friendliness, we could. Our success has proven that." In addition to the quality work force, BMW also attributes its success to a state government that listens and is willing to provide the infrastructure businesses need to be successful.

They don't make the delivery trucks there, but "Brown" has invested greatly in Louisville. UPS invested $1.1 billion to expand its hub in the Kentucky city. The 2.7 million square foot facility has been widely recognized as one of the world's top corporate facility deals of 1998.

The facility employs nearly 23,000 Kentuckians, and sorts 304,000 packages and documents per hour.

Three companies have made a significant impact on the economy of Virginia. Micron Technology began as a partnership between IBM and Toshiba to create a DRAM chip manufacturing facility. The companies invested $1.5 billion and created 3,000 jobs on their 600,000-square-foot campus.

Former Virginia Governor George Allen said, at the facility's grand opening, that the company "celebrates the confirmation of Virginia's emergence as the Silicon Dominion."

Another technology manufacturing facility, Infineon, made just as significant an impact in Henrico County. The company, which is the world's second largest supplier of automotive electronics chips, invested $1.5 billion in the plant. Allen called the facility a symbol that "magnifies the exciting changes that are transforming this entire region's economy, making Virginia a leader in the technology revolution."

Falls Church, Va. is home to one of the nation's most recognizable financial companies. Capital One had 10,000 employees in the Richmond metro area when it made a big announcement in October 2000. The company took on the largest corporate expansion project in Virginia's history - one that would require a $700 million investment and create 8,000 new jobs.

Rounding out the top 10 deals in the South over the last 10 years is a $2 billion, 1,200-employee expansion of Texas Instruments' wafer facility in Dallas in 1996. The company also expanded its complex in Dallas by $1 billion as well. TI invented the integrated circuit in Dallas in 1958. Texas Instruments is headquartered in Dallas and employs over 10,000 people in the Metroplex.

They approach business from differing angles, but these companies all have discovered the same thing. Investing in the South brings results.