How did Blue Springs, Mississippi get a Prius assembly plant????

Question

We could stand to have something like that here in Phoenix AZ. A large under-employed labor force here (mostly transplants from other states), right-to-work state with low labor costs etc. The more I think about this, the more I think that elected officials and business "leaders" here are just asleep at the wheel......

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080710/ts_alt_afp/usjapancompanyautotoyotaprius

Answer 1

While there is no question that many elected officials are asleep at the wheel, there is a very easy answer to why Blue Springs got a Prius plant. Blue Springs was awarded a Toyota plant to build Highlander SUVs in Feb. 2007. The plant is about 50% built, just enought time left to switch the vehicle to be constructed. This way, Toyota will have a American Prius plant within a year and a half, instead of the five years it would have taken start from scratch.