India's new "Detroit"
Monday, August 2, 2010 at 12:02AM 
WSJ story on “new Detroit” arising in Chennai, a major metro in India’s south. Hyundai, Ford, Nissan/Renault, Mercedes are all there, cranking vehicles.
They are spending billions of dollars to make Chennai one of the world’s biggest hubs of small cars for export as well as for increasingly affluent Indians. Soon, the city will turn out cloe to 1.5 million autos a year, more than any one U.S. state made last year.
Car-parts suppliers also are placing big bets on the city, formerly known as Madras . . .
Totally natural: automobile (French word) begins in Europe, is perfected in mass manufacturing in the US, and now shifts to Asia.
This is simply the successful expansion of globalization, and we all win when there are more consumers with more income to spend.
India’s economy grows 9% this year—so very Chinese.
Yes, higher labor costs eventually come to pass here too, but the upward swing in production will be profound and last for quite a stretch.
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