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 THE AUTOMOTIVE COMMUNITIES PROGRAM
A Program Created and Administered by THE CENTER FOR AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH BACKGROUND The Center for Automotive Research (CAR) has, with assistance from the Mott Foundation, created a non-profit, community-industry partnership called the Automotive Communities Program (ACP) to link the major traditional centers of automotive activity to each other and to the changing North American industry. As of 2003, the economic contribution of the North American automotive industry is largely concentrated in fewer than ten “automotive” states. These states contain almost 70 percent of direct vehicle manufacturing and supplier jobs in the U.S. industry. Less than 20 communities or counties within these ten states contain the bulk of this concentrated employment and economic activity. Several of these communities are new recipients of recent investment from international automakers that now produce and engineer vehicles in the United States. However, even though these traditional automotive communities actually share similar labor forces, utility prices and tax rates and would be well-advised to market themselves as a region, they have been forced unfairly to compete against each other by the manufacturers, and other emerging auto regions. The real competition for traditional automotive communities exists elsewhere in the United States or in North America. Many automotive communities exist in the upper U.S. Midwest and Ontario that share the same needs for automotive information and face-to-face contact with automotive firms. Each of these communities confronts the same specific problems of aging automotive investment as well as aging skilled labor forces. Many of these communities enjoy significant political influence – but the influence of even the most powerful is magnified many times if concentrated through a group that spans the upper Midwest and one Canadian province. In fact, the traditional automotive community base forms its own distinct economic region. A new automotive assembly plant located within this region benefits all of its constituent states almost equally. PURPOSE The general purpose of the ACP is to provide impartial research and informational assistance to the automotive communities across the upper Midwest and Ontario. Currently the program provides assistance to nearly 40 communities. The program brings together representatives from automotive manufacturing and supplier firms together with communities to better understand the community/industry dynamic and the industry’s competitive issues, along with examining public policy issues which affect future automotive investment across the region. Activities of the program include: A number of large vehicle manufacturing and supplier firms—both domestic and international—have participated in the program. These firms have provided access to high-level staff and data for various research topics and have attended meetings of the ACP. In exchange for their active participation, the companies have had access to the research findings, such as the highly regarded “Book of Deals”—a compilation of a decade’s worth of automotive investments and the associated incentive packages throughout North America. Companies agreeing to actively participate in the ACP are given immediate access to the complete “Book of Deals” database. Communities are asked to pay an annual fee to join the ACP, while companies can join for free—provided they actively participate in the program through assistance with research and regular meeting attendance. The benefits of the ACP for the members are in direct relation to the number of communities and companies directly participating in the program. Benefits of membership include the following: The ACP membership—communities and companies—meet four times each year. If you are interested in joining the ACP as a community or company representative, please contact one of the ACP staff below For information regarding the ACP, please contact: |
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