Detroit, Michigan, is often thought of as the automaker capital of the country, but increasingly, foreign auto plants are heading south, to a region known for more than its charm. Almost every foreign auto factory that's opened since the '90s has sprouted below the Mason-Dixon Line. Two of the three auto plants under construction also are in the South.Plants typically establish their roots in what is known as the auto corridor -- a roughly 200-mile-wide stretch that runs from Michigan to Alabama.
"The northern end is more heavily dominated by the traditional Detroit-base assemblers and their supplier base, and then the foreign automakers and their supplier base tend to pull a little further south," said Thomas Klier, a senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago who specializes in the auto industry.
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