Touring Alabama’s Automobile Factories (Manufactories)

Alabama has become a growing powerhouse in automobile manufacturing in recent years, picking up a Mercedes Benz factory in Tuscaloosa, a Honda factory in Lincoln, and Hyundai built their first state-side factory just south of Montgomery a couple years ago. Without delving deep into politics, low operational costs, largely non-union labor, good river, rail, and over-the-road transportation access, low cost of living, and massive incentive packages have made Alabama (and the southern United States) a very attractive place to build a factory. Since I first wrote this article in May 2007, many things are changing in the automotive industry in the South:

• Honda recently announced that it will be building an new exhaust system factory to supply it’s main Alabama plant.
• Hyundai has added a second engine plant (doubling their engine assembly footprint) in Montgomery, AL.
• Hyundai’s sister company Kia, has built a very large plant just across the AL-GA border in West Point, Georgia. As of 3/2011 they haven’t started tours yet, but it looks like they are planning to.
• Volkswagen is building their first US factory in Chattanooga, TN where they will be producing the 2012 Passat, amongst other models.
• Toyota will be operating a factory near Tupelo, Mississippi to build Corollas (3rd best selling car currently and highest selling car model of all time.)

A great feature of these factories (along with their local and regional economic impact) is that most are available for the public to tour them. I’ve gathered the relevant information about each tour for the factories in Alabama. (updated 03/2011)

	Mercedes-Benz	Hyundai	Honda
Location	Vance (Tuscaloosa)	Montgomery	Lincoln (Anniston)
Cost	$5/head	Free	Free
Reservation required	Yes, 10 day minimum lead time	Yes	Yes
Reservation Method	Phone	Online/Phone	Online
Minimum Age	12	First graders with parent Third graders with school group. minimum age: 6	12
Approximate Tour Length	1 hour 30 minutes	1 hour 30 minutes	1 hour 20 minutes
Tour Schedule	(currently on hiatus, call or check link below.)	Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:30am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm Thursdays one tour at 6:30 pm	Tuesday and Thursday 9am and 1pm
Photography	No	No	No
Gift shop	Yes	Yes	?
Phone	(888) 286-8762 (205) 507-2252	334-387-8019	(None Provided)
Link	Tour Info	Tour Info	Tour Info

This information was gleaned from the manufacturers’ websites at the time I wrote this entry. Please verify any information by contacting the factories at their website or by phone before embarking on your trip. You should wear shoes with closed toes and heels as well as long pants (some tours don’t allow shorts, dresses, skirts.) To give you an idea the size of these operations, the Hyundai plant in Montgomery produces in excess of 1,000 vehicles per day (sometimes several hundred more per day depending on demand.) These tours are great for kids (see “Minimum Age”) and adults alike and offer a portal into modern automobile manufacturing processes. The Mercedes-Benz plant has stopped tours while they produce the first examples of they new model year vehicles. I will including relevant information for that factory when it is available.