Atlanta Grows Into Role As Automotive Industry Hub

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

As Mercedes-Benz USA prepares for its two-year move from New Jersey to Atlanta, the question is how the city scored this win in the first place. Turns out Atlanta is pushing its own brand as that of an automotive industry hub for the Southeastern United States.

Autoblog reports Atlanta has become a home for a handful of automakers from around the globe, including Porsche, Kia and General Motors. At present, around 250 industry-related companies call the Southern city home, the majority comprised of suppliers.

Those suppliers have chosen Atlanta as their base for strategic purposes: close enough to the OEMs to have a relationship, but far enough away that they don’t have to compete for resources, nor be reliant on a single company for business. In turn, the OEMs are heading south to increase their presence over regional operations, as well as to have a more hands-on approach over its suppliers, per a report by the Center for

As far the city’s growing niche goes, the OEMs are focused on furthering ties with their suppliers and sending more white-collar jobs to Atlanta over building new production facilities throughout the region. Georgia, meanwhile, is preparing for the future to come with an initiative to help college students better compete in the industry over the next decade.


Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • Vwgolf420 Vwgolf420 on Jan 19, 2015

    It's next door to Alabama and we've got Mercedes, Hyundai, and Honda plants. In fact, the Honda plant is not far off I-20 on the way from B'ham to ATL. The Mercedes plant is on I-59/20 just west of B'ham and Hyundai is in Montgomery, not far from I-85 which goes to ATL too. Chattanooga has VW.

  • VelocityRed3 VelocityRed3 on Jan 19, 2015

    Atlanta's original name was Terminus. The same reasons that a bunch of railroads had hubs there (as now Hartsfiled-Jackson is the busiest airport in the world) are the same reasons that Auto companies & others are moving there. Namely where it is located in the continental US. in 30 years, Chattanooga will be a bedroom suburb (if not partially already) to the north, the Alabama state line is only 60 miles to the west & Macon is already being absorbed to the south. Augusta to the east is safe for now. The thing that will stop it, as alluded to up thread, is the lack of fresh water. The 'Hooch is the shallowest river of any major city in North America. With just shy of 6 million ATL-iens in the metro area, it is the largest city in the Southeast (indeed half of the population of the state of Georgia is there) & is at the point where the gravitational pull of the city is like a self-replicating behemonth.

    • Wstarvingteacher Wstarvingteacher on Jan 19, 2015

      Sounds like it's getting close to passing Houston. Maybe it has if you look at metro areas.

  • Fred diesel Fred diesel on Jan 20, 2015

    Gotta luv ATL!? SEVEN downtown lanes on 75/85. Probly 18 hours a day you could fly thru there huge. Where else has 7? BTW Atlanta is the 40th largest city, 11th metro area. WTF? Me thinks the highway trust fund needs an audit.

  • Snakebit Snakebit on Jan 20, 2015

    I don't know why Porsche chose to leave Reno when it did, but for other car manufacturers based in New Jersey or L.A(I'm thinking of Nissan leaving Gardena) real estate for corporate and the worker bees is far less expensive in the South. I watch a fair amount of home rehab shows, and I can tell instantly where the houses are, even though the producers go out of their way to hide it. One couple is shopping for a make-over home at $850K (must be Vancouver or Toronto), and the next pair finds a same-size home, and it's $250K or less(Atlanta).Come to think of it, when are Toyota-VW-BMW of Canada coming south?

    • WynnBear WynnBear on Jan 20, 2015

      Toyota is moving from LA to Plano (Dallas) already.

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