SC

Volvo: Not Moving Headquarters To SC

CARMAKER KEEPING CORPORATE HOME IN NEW JERSEY || By FITSNEWS ||  Chinese-owned automotive manufacturer Volvo will not move its North American headquarters to South Carolina, The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper is reporting.  Nor will it incorporate a metal-stamping component at its soon-to-be-built Berkeley County facility – which would have driven…

CARMAKER KEEPING CORPORATE HOME IN NEW JERSEY

|| By FITSNEWS ||  Chinese-owned automotive manufacturer Volvo will not move its North American headquarters to South Carolina, The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper is reporting.  Nor will it incorporate a metal-stamping component at its soon-to-be-built Berkeley County facility – which would have driven up the corporation’s capital investment dramatically.

The news comes days after the Palmetto State “won” a multi-state bidding war to land the plant… guaranteeing a massive crony capitalist handout to the company owned by wealthy Chinese billionaire Li Shufu.

How massive?  State lawmakers could borrow up to $120 million for Volvo – with another $45 million available to S.C. governor Nikki Haley as part of a “deal-closing” fund. Santee Cooper – a state-run utility – is in the process of negotiating handouts in the form of free or reduced energy prices, and Volvo is likely to receive job development tax credits, infrastructure enhancements, so-called “site improvements” and income tax rebates for its employees.  And of course liberal environmentalists are going to take their cut.

What will the final price tag be?  We may never know … because South Carolina is one of the least transparent states in America when it comes to disclosing the terms of deals like this.  Still.

Volvo never considered moving its corporate headquarters to the Palmetto State, apparently … and while we’d ordinarily place the blame for that on South Carolina’s high, regressive income tax, New Jersey is actually one of the few states which imposes an even greater levy.

Of course if income tax credits are part of these deals, does it matter what a state’s top marginal rate is?

As we’ve said repeatedly, we welcome companies like BMW, Boeing, Continental Tires and Volvo to South Carolina. All we ask is they not pick our pockets to subsidize their expansions.

Such deals are not only patently unfair … they simply haven’t worked, as South Carolina workers remain dirt poor.  And part of a labor force that’s much smaller than the national average.

But we say that all the time …

Meanwhile the mainstream media is busy making rock stars out of the politicians giving away your money to billionaires.

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37 comments

euwe max May 20, 2015 at 12:39 pm

Where does amfy live?

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lol May 20, 2015 at 12:46 pm

If thought those honchos would move to SC, you must be high.

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southmauldin May 20, 2015 at 12:56 pm

No kidding. I can’t wait to retire and get the hell out of this shitty state.

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CNSYD May 20, 2015 at 1:16 pm

Some retiring Yankee is waiting for you to leave so they can buy your house.

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Resident Of Hell May 20, 2015 at 1:22 pm

They better replace the HVAC before they stroke out.

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CNSYD May 20, 2015 at 1:28 pm

So his house is in Columbia?

Nölff May 20, 2015 at 2:11 pm

This is true. Also, people from Ohio are spreading like an epidemic.

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Silvio Dante May 20, 2015 at 4:30 pm

I keep hearing this. Where are these Ohioans moving to…Charleston?

E Norma Scok May 20, 2015 at 5:14 pm

We’re filled up with Ohio-ans. I don;t know how there is anyone left in Cleveland.

Nölff May 22, 2015 at 12:52 pm

It’s the Upstate. I see the OH license plates and Buckeye stickers all over the place.

Cracker May 20, 2015 at 12:46 pm

So damn, they’re not bringing the whole vagina to South Carolina?

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Crooner May 20, 2015 at 1:01 pm

You’re missing the point: they come here because SC workers are willing to REMAIN dirt poor. And our politicians are pimping them out.

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Bill Brasky May 20, 2015 at 1:05 pm

I love how Haley keeps calling them a Swedish car maker. Volvo hasn’t been a “Swedish” company since 2000 (when it was sold to Ford) and they’ve been owned by a Chinese company (when Ford sold it) since 2007. Also, if anyone thinks that any company is going to move their headquarters to SC (much less Columbia), they’re out of their minds. They don’t want the address on their letterhead to be a joke.

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CNSYD May 20, 2015 at 1:15 pm

Michelin North America says Hi!

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P. Griffin May 20, 2015 at 2:13 pm

Shut up, Meg.

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Stewie May 20, 2015 at 2:35 pm

You forgot to fart in his/her face.

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We All Know They Are Crooks May 20, 2015 at 1:53 pm

Volvo is in business to make a profit by whatever legal means necessary. The majorty of SC public servants who run for office, and who made it are in office to use their positions for their own veiled motives.

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Orly May 20, 2015 at 1:53 pm

“the company owned by wealthy Chinese billionaire Li Shufu.”

I thought Volvo was owned by a company. Or is it your position that corporate entities are mere shams?

Also, too, “wealthy billionaire” is redundant.

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Mike May 20, 2015 at 1:55 pm

Volvo never said they planned to move their HQ to SC. They just wanted a site for a factory. BS article like this is why Will is no longer relevant. Well… that and beating his wife.

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a face in the crowd May 20, 2015 at 2:03 pm

Except that every media outlet in the state is reporting the Volvo story.

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CNSYD May 20, 2015 at 2:43 pm

Dumb face, when will you understand that FITS isentertainment not media?

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a face in the crowd May 20, 2015 at 2:46 pm

Uncle Billy just called. Said to tell the CNSYD fellow to pipe down.

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~~~~~~~~~ May 20, 2015 at 2:44 pm

You’re just an angry drug head and/or alcoholic.

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Nölff May 20, 2015 at 2:10 pm

That last link is hilarious.

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Crony Capitalism 101 May 20, 2015 at 2:43 pm

It almost looked like Haley was looking for approval from Bobby during the interview….lol

I also laughed when she said SC is becoming known for making a pitch “for our company”. Let’s just make sure she’s not doing the bookkeeping, eh?

Ahhhh….the possibilities are endless with taxpayer money…so much easier to manage without the pesky need for accountability or profit.

I especially liked the end where Bobby Hitt extolled on the risk being taken by Volvo…in his words they are “rebuilding and rebranding”….and of course…no word on the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars put at risk from him.

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Master Shufu May 20, 2015 at 2:34 pm

Shut up ungwateful woundeyes!

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We Don't Need Volvo (China). May 20, 2015 at 2:38 pm

S.C. lured Volvo with $204M incentives package

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Jonny Logic May 20, 2015 at 3:30 pm

The sad part is that they are actually choosing NJ over SC. Maybe Nikki and Christie worked out some deal, ie free food for Nikki at Jets/Giants games if HQ stayed there.

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Bible Thumper May 20, 2015 at 3:36 pm

BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

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Native Ink May 20, 2015 at 3:45 pm

Volvo is struggling mightily in the U.S. market. Many analysts thought they would withdraw from the U.S. completely. The S.C. factory seems like a last-ditch effort to compete here, so I’m not surprised they are not going all in with a huge investment. If their sales pick up, they will expand here. If they continue sinking, Volvo might pull an American LaFrance on us. Last I heard, Berkeley County was still trying to claw back a puny fraction of the incentives it gave to that company to move here. At least we got to keep their cool old firetrucks for the Fire Museum.

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BarbaraJLawson May 21, 2015 at 9:32 am

?????????? Meet your Dreams:4 hours daily Work@mi30//

…..

???http://iManageteamEco.com/division/finance

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Fleet May 20, 2015 at 5:06 pm

Great bagels and pizza in NJ. Maybe that’s why.

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Taos May 20, 2015 at 10:25 pm

Barbecue, shrimp and grits, fried chicken, and sweet tea here… so seriously, what’s your point?… that YOU like Yankee food more than Southern food.

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Fleet May 21, 2015 at 6:40 am

Not that I do, that THEY do.

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Taos May 21, 2015 at 6:58 am

… who is THEY?… the Chinese?.. the Swedes? Didn’t know that Volvo was a Jewish-Italian-American company.

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Fleet May 21, 2015 at 11:18 am

We all know that YOU don’t have a sense of humor.

Manray9 May 21, 2015 at 10:57 am

South Carolina is good enough for the workers, but Volvo executives will continue to live and work in the upper-class enclave of Rockleigh, NJ in Bergen County — an affluent suburb of NYC. The Volvo “big shots” will take our tax money, but (Heaven forbid!) they’re not going to move to Berkeley County.

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