A New Detroit Rises in India's South

Wall Street Journal - In an article titled "A New Detroit Rises in India's South," The Wall Street Journal reports that Chennai is becoming an automotive hub in India, as Ford, Hyundai, Renault SA, Daimler AG, BMW AG, and Nissan Motor Co. have all opened plants in the area. When all of these factories are operating at capacity, the city will manufacturer almost 1.5 million vehicles per year. Furthermore, subsidiaries are looking to Chennai as a destination to open factories, with France's Michelin SA and Saint-Gobain SA are going to open large factories in the city. Hyundai and Ford have invested $2 billion and $1 billion respectively into the city, enjoying the benefits of cheap factory labor in addition to cheap engineers who design and program the robots that craft the vehicles. The Journal notes that the city is also building new malls and apartments to keep up with the growing middle class of automotive workers. The Wall Street Journal also offers a slideshow of manufacturing-related pictures of Chennai on its website. Via NAM