AFP, Montgomery :
Despite the recent “America First” scoldings of President Donald Trump, foreign automakers have helped transform the economy of the Deep South in the past three decades.
But they now face new challenges amid threats of trade wars and the rising influence of Silicon Valley in the auto industry.
In a region of the United States more often identified with the legacy of racism and evangelical Christianity, German and Asian cafes today dot the landscape in Alabama, where Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai-Kia and Toyota all have plants.
“Lives are being changed,” said Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, where Volkswagen opened a plant in 2011 that now employs more than 3,200 people.
Veronica Curtis was one of the first 700 people hired when Mercedes started production at its Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant in 1997, joining just five days after giving birth.
“I’ve never built a car, I didn’t know anything about cars,” Curtis told AFP. But 20 years later, Curtis, who is African-American, is a group leader for a team of 60.
Despite the recent “America First” scoldings of President Donald Trump, foreign automakers have helped transform the economy of the Deep South in the past three decades.
But they now face new challenges amid threats of trade wars and the rising influence of Silicon Valley in the auto industry.
In a region of the United States more often identified with the legacy of racism and evangelical Christianity, German and Asian cafes today dot the landscape in Alabama, where Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai-Kia and Toyota all have plants.
“Lives are being changed,” said Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, where Volkswagen opened a plant in 2011 that now employs more than 3,200 people.
Veronica Curtis was one of the first 700 people hired when Mercedes started production at its Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant in 1997, joining just five days after giving birth.
“I’ve never built a car, I didn’t know anything about cars,” Curtis told AFP. But 20 years later, Curtis, who is African-American, is a group leader for a team of 60.
