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Story Archives: Next is dead and gone
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Next is dead and gone
 Next Autoworks' announcement last week that it was pulling the plug on its plans to set up an automobile manufacturing operation in Ouachita Parish wasn't a surprise.
It wasn't a surprise because it was obvious long ago – even to a casual observer – that the federal government wasn't very hip on helping finance Next Autoworks' foray into the car-building business. To be more specific, it was the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that wasn't keen on floating a roughly $320-million loan to Next Autoworks. The loan was intended to largely underwrite the start-up company's plans to turn the former Guide plant in eastern Ouachita Parish into a full-fledged operation to manufacture fuel-efficient cars.
Though Gov. Bobby Jindal, Congressman Rodney Alexander and U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter lobbied DOE to approve Next Autoworks' loan, Energy said "no" last week, prompting Next Autoworks to call it quits in Louisiana. It wasn't the Thanksgiving message we had hoped to hear at the onset of the 2011 holiday season.
That Next Autoworks had pledged to create some 1,400 new, direct jobs and an additional 1,800 indirect jobs in one of the most impoverished regions in the country apparently didn't sway DOE. If the promise of creating new, good-paying jobs in building fuel-efficient automobiles wasn't sufficient to secure some fat financing from DOE's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, what does it take?
Who knows?
Yet, DOE's decision to deny Next Autoworks the financing it needed to make the former Guide plant useful again raised a question or two.For the full story, subscribe to the The Concordia Sentinel's NEW E-Edition! |
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