Nissan cites lower costs in Nashville move

Detriot News reports:

"The costs of doing business in southern California are much higher than the costs of doing business in Tennessee," Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn Thursday at the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville. "That difference is taken into account amid the realities of the fiercely competitive environment in the global automotive industry."

Real-estate costs and business taxes are lower in the Volunteer State than the Golden State, Ghosn said. Overall, Nissan said the cost of living in Tennessee was about 20 percent lower than in southern California.

The move threatens Southern California's dominance as a longtime corporate hub for Asian automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. At the same time it, it brings new clout to the South, where foreign automakers have established manufacturing strongholds over the past 25 years to take advantage of lower wages. Nissan was one of the first Asian automakers to manufacture in the south when it opened an assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn., in 1980.