Bloomberg News
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Foreign automakers are creating [US] jobs, investing in new [US] plants and winning friends in Congress...the economic benefits are being felt in smaller, once-rural communities, especially in the South, in places like Canton, Miss. (Nissan Motor Co.); Greer, S.C. (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG); West Point, Ga. (Kia Motors Corp.); and Montgomery, Ala. (Hyundai Motor Co.)
Toyota in February said it will build its next assembly plant in Tupelo, Miss
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"These towns have good skilled work forces and the people value the jobs," said Mike Stanton, who heads the AIAM
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- The UAW has failed in every effort to organize U.S. workers at the foreign-owned auto plants, helping to keep labor costs from ballooning as they have in Detroit. In addition to passing GM in unit sales on a worldwide basis, Toyota is poised to steam past Ford in the U.S. to become No. 2. After that, the big milestone for Toyota will be to grab the No. 1 spot in the U.S. Toyota now has a bit less than 16 percent of the U.S. market, GM a bit less than 23 percent. If current trends continue, Toyota could be No. 1 in the U.S. within five years.