It's Discount Week! 🎁 Pick up new Marketplace gear at a discount when you donate today! Get My Gear!

A stateside return for VW?

Alisa Roth Jun 10, 2008
HTML EMBED:
COPY

A stateside return for VW?

Alisa Roth Jun 10, 2008
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

Scott Jagow: Now, let’s set the way back machine to 1988.
That’s when Volkswagen closed its last U.S. car making plant. But the German car maker wants to make a comeback here. Alisa Roth explains.


Alisa Roth: BMW, Mercedes and Toyota already build vehicles here. It helps save on shipping costs, for one thing. Being closer to their American customers also helps them hedge against other costs, including fluctuations in currency rates.

Michael Robinet studies the global car market. He says if the dollar is weak against other currencies, as it is right now, cars assembled overseas can be very expensive to sell here. That’s been a big problem for VW.

Michael Robinet: They’ve had a lot of difficulties competing in this market, given the rise of the Euro vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar. And that is a major driver why they are finally deciding to locate production capacity in North America.

VW already has plants in Mexico. It even exports some cars made there back to Europe. Robinet thinks that could also happen to cars made at the new American plant.

Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan are the on the short list for the site. VW says it’ll announce the final choice in July.

In New York, I’m Alisa Roth for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.