Missouri is home to some of the most well-known automotive manufacturers in the world; both Ford and General Motors have found success with plants in the state. This is due not only to Missouri’s low business costs and large manufacturing workforce, but also to the state’s strategic location and extensive transportation network.

Missouri has:

• The 3rd lowest business energy costs in the U.S. (Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council).
• The 4th lowest overall business costs in the U.S. (CNBC).
• The 5th lowest corporate income tax rate in the U.S (Tax Foundation).

Missouri's workforce has the education that Automotive companies require:

• Missouri has thirteen colleges across the state that offer courses and Associate degrees in precision production trades.
• 85.6% of Missouri's population (over 3 million people) has attained a high school diploma or higher, exceeding the national average of 84.5%.
• In 2009, Missouri was home to the Dodge Ram, the Ford Escape, the GMC Savana, the Mercury Mariner, and the Chevy Express.

• Missouri has the 6th best transportation network in the nation based on value of goods shipped by air, land and water, the availability of air travel, and the quality of roads (CNBC).
• Missouri is located within 600 miles of 52% of U.S. manufacturing establishments.
• Missouri is located within 600 miles of 51% of all U.S. households.

Ford: (Kansas City) Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant, one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the world, produces the Ford Escape Hybrid, Ford Escape, Mazda Tribute, Mercury Mariner, Ford F-150, and Mercury Mariner Hybrid. The plant opened in 1951. The 2008 Harbour Report ranked Claycomo as the most efficient large pickup plant in the nation, with 19.19 hours per vehicle (HPV), an 11 percent reduction from last year. The plant also ranked second in compact utility production, at 17.72 HPV, down 1 percent from the previous year. This was enough for a fifth-place ranking in overall efficiency.

General Motors: (St. Louis) General Motors’ Wentzville plant produces the Chevy Express & GMC Savana vans. The plant opened in 1983, and it has been the Harbour Report North America "Most Productive Full Size Van Plant" every year since 2003.

Hayes Lemmerz International Inc.: (Sedalia) Hayes Lemmerz International is the world's #1 manufacturer of fabricated steel and cast aluminum wheels for passenger cars and light trucks, and steel wheels for commercial trucks and trailers. Their Sedalia plant employs over 500 Missourians.

Peterson Manufacturing Company: (HQ Kansas City) Peterson Manufacturing is primarily a maker of automotive and trailer lighting products.  The company also makes automotive mirrors. Lighting customers include Harley-Davidson, Caterpillar, and O'Reilly Automotive.

Smith Electric Vehicles: (Kansas City) Smith Electric Vehicles recently began production  at a new assembly facility in Kansas City. The first Newton electric truck rolled off the line in October of 2009. The Kansas City plant is SEV’s only North American plant.

SRG Global: (Farmington and Portageville) SRG Global manufactures plastic and metal components for the global automotive industry. The company operates 2 manufacturing facilities in Missouri supplying grilles, bodyside moldings, nameplates, and other trim products to automotive manufacturers.

TG Missouri Corp.: (HQ Perryville) TG Missouri Corp.’s products include steering wheels, airbags, side molding, interior and exterior plastic trim components for automobiles. The company is affiliated with Toyoda Gosei.

Automotive industry related research in Missouri includes:

Alliance for Collaborative Research in Alternative Fuels Technology (All-Craft): A partnership of the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU, lead institution), the Midwest Research Institute (MRI) in Kansas City, and other partners to develop low-pressure, high-capacity storage technologies for natural gas (NG, methane) and hydrogen as alternative fuels for advanced transportation.

Missouri S&T FREEDM Systems Center – Grid Stabilization:  Missouri S&T is one five USA universities of the recently established NSF Engineering Research Center:  Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management Systems Center (FREEDM).  A major goal of this center is the development of enabling technologies to introduce distributed energy storage devices and distributed grid intelligence such as plug-in hybrids electric vehicles (PHEVs) and other devices.  The energy storage of these vehicles, with the use of power electronics can be used in grid stabilization through reactive and real power injection for frequency and voltage regulation.

Missouri S&T EcoCAR Challenge: The EcoCAR Challenge is  a collegiate advanced vehicle technology competition which kicked off in the fall of 2008. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM), as well as by Natural Resources Canada and other industry leaders, EcoCAR challenges engineering students from universities across North America to re-engineer a GM vehicle, minimizing energy consumption, emissions, and greenhouse gases while maintaining the vehicle’s utility, safety, and performance. Missouri S&T’s vehicle is a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FC-PHEV).
 

Automechanika
September 14-19, 2010
Frankfurt, Germany