Site Selection Expert: BMW & Governor Haley Keys to S.C.’s Volvo Win
June 8, 2015Volvo’s recent announcement regarding plans to build a $500 million plant in South Carolina, the company’s first U.S. plant, was met with praise from around the state and automotive industry. The ripple of effect of the Charleston-based plant has the potential to benefit a significant number of the 250-plus automotive-related companies in South Carolina, including the more than 150 companies found in Upstate South Carolina.
Volvo cited South Carolina’s unique advantages like easy access to international ports, a highly-skilled labor force and high-tech manufacturing resources when it made the decision to call the Palmetto State home to its first U.S. plant. Dean Barber, president and CEO of Barber Business Advisors, Dallas-based site selection and economic development consulting firm, asserts that two of South Carolina’s biggest assets are the success of BMW and influence of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
In a recent blog post, “South Carolina’s Winning Hand”, Barber outlines how representatives from Volvo met with representatives from BMW to learn more about the company’s success in operating its Spartanburg County-based plant—a meeting that made a lasting impression. Last year, BMW announced the company would invest $1 billion in expanding its Upstate plant, increasing production from 350,000 units to 450,000 units to make the facility BMW’s highest capacity plant globally by 2016.
(View our infographic and learn more about what is driving the automotive industry in Upstate South Carolina)
Barber goes on to give praise to Gov. Haley for the work she has done in securing major manufacturers like Volvo.
“When you’re one a roll, you’re on a roll, and much of that, I credit to governors who have the power to set the tone for economic development in their states,” writes Barber.
Read Barber’s entire blog post “South Carolina’s Winning Hand.”
To learn more about the automotive industry in Upstate South Carolina, visit https://www.upstatescalliance.com/target-audiences/welcome-automotive-companies.