I’ve decided to pass on the EX30, just a little too small. I really want a Rivian but can’t really justify the cost, don’t need a truck, and the R1S is too giant of a vehicle for me. Hoping the R2 threads the needle at a good price point.
From what I know as a lay person from another country, hasnt detroit been like a ghost city since the late 80s when all the car plants were closing down there?
Michael moore even did a documentary on it?
In more recent times I understand the city council has also got finance issues so is very keen to get its tax revenues up so would be keen to attract a manufacturer to the city.I would have thought there would be heaps of buildings and housing avaliable there, along with many unemployed people looking for jobs that they could quickly ramp up a factory rather than building from scratch?
I can answer this! I work in real estate appraisal and have valued a number of industrials over my career.
The short answer is that a lot of industrial properties are built to a specific need, and to retrofit an old building to work for a new use is more expensive than building new. A building with 18-foot ceilings does you no good if your stamper is 22-feet tall.
Let’s use an analogy: if you need an extra-large coat, and someone is willing to give you a medium coat for very little cost, does it make sense to try to use the medium? How much will you spend on fabric making the sleeves longer? The labor involved? The extra time? It probably makes more sense to just find or make the jacket you need.
I’m simplifying of course; but just because something exists, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s useful as it is.
It is interesting to me how many disused industrial buildings Georgia has. They’re all brick so they’re mostly still there, waiting to do something.
Lol ghost city.
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Moore’s documentary was about Flint, a city north of Detroit in even worse shape.
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Detroit is slowly coming back.
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Auto manufacturers are avoiding that area because union labor is too expensive.
Not too expensive, too problematic.
They know their value and they’re willing to fight for it, that’s the problem.
Or they know what they can get.
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The southern US in generally controlled by Republicans which are more apt to trade tax breaks for jobs/businesses coming in versus in the north where Democrats are more in control and those breaks generally aren’t given to the business but to individual workers for a higher standard of living.
I’m in TN and we have both Ford moving in and VW expanding. Both were given HUGE breaks to incentivize getting them in the door.
Auto companies avoid the traditional automotive areas because they want to go to states with weak labor and union policies.
also, Detroit is not so bad :)
Detroits biggest negative is expensive labor - it’s high unemployment rate doesn’t mean anything when a new Detroit plant is certainly bound to be unionized.
That might not be an issue in the future if the unionize ball starts rolling through the other auto manufacturers.
Might have as much to do with the workforce as with the logistics. I don’t know how challenging it would be opening a non-union auto plant in Detroit. Just a guess, I seriously don’t know. I’m not sure where the raw materials come from either. If imported, shipping might be a concern.
Detroit wasn’t willing to pony up the $1.5B in tax breaks like GA was.
Also as a young engineer, I wanted to move south out of the cold rust belt even just for a while after school was done. Georgia is nice! I’m in TN and I won’t be going back to the Midwest or the rust belt ever again unless things change in big ways.
You been there in the summer?
My god is it horrible
TN is mild compared to Florida and Louisiana.
I wish you could come visit. Detroit is so much more than those few sentences of your understanding. There are still plenty of automotive manufacturing plants, automotive suppliers, and the Detroit big three brands (Ford, GM, and Chrysler who is now part of Stellantis)
4.2million people live in Detroit and the surrounding areas. There are world class restaurants and shopping. A nationally recognized riverfront NORTH of Canada ;) Industry sparked by automotive, but far beyond that with many prosperous jobs in tech and health, finance, etc.
Nice try but we’ve all seen Robocop.
Just spent a weekend in downtown D What a great city. I hadn’t been for a long long time and my last few foray’s into what was the downtown Abyss didn’t fare so well.
So glad to see what it has become and look forward to coming back.
Would be a massive investment in Eastern Europe, but I’d have thought they would go for a country within the EU for European expansion.
Did you miss an /s or did you really think it’s Georgia the country not Georgia the state?
Rivian has been working on this for years
Once Russia invades again the land value will plummet. What where they thinking?
How many people are there that can afford a $100k vehicle? Are the people buying them all paying cash? How is there enough of a market for these cars?
Some key points:
According to the report, the site will employ 7,500 workers with an average salary of $56,000
Once complete, Rivian’s Georgia plant is expected to be able to produce 400,000 EVs a year, compared to its Illinois facility, which is capped at 150,000.
The R2 “captures the essence of our brand,” but in “a smaller package and at a much lower price point,” according to Rivian’s CEO. Prices are expected to start at around $40K-$45K, compared to over $70K for the R1T and R1S.
According to the report, the site will employ 7,500 workers with an average salary of $56,000
To clarify, these numbers are the minimums Rivian must meet by the end of '28 in order to fully realize the incentives. It’s very possible Rivian employs more than 7.5k workers and at a higher average salary then $56k/yr.
If Rivian made a Maverick sized EV truck for 40k, I would be an instant buy.
You and so many power, water, cable company fleets.