The Southern auto plant boom (1980s-2000s)
Southern states competed with tax breaks and worker training to attract foreign auto plants, starting with Nissan in Tennessee (1983), Toyota in Kentucky (1985), and BMW in South Carolina (1992). The strategy built a regional auto manufacturing corridor.
The South became the nation's car-building center, creating thousands of jobs in supplier networks.
States learned that auto manufacturing follows incentives, and plants adjust to market and policy conditions beyond state control.
Georgia used the same playbook for EVs, and now faces the reality that federal policy, not just state incentives, determines whether the plants thrive.
