Larry Mutz, left, and Trevor Hilliar talk near a 2013 hybrid Volkswagen Jetta at the Southern Automotive Conference on Thursday at the Chattanooga Convention Center.While the South has succeeded in wooing auto assembly plants, the region needs to get better at attracting well-paying industry research jobs, experts said in Chattanooga on Thursday.
“I’d like for the Southeast to have the high-paying jobs that stay in other countries or go to Detroit,” said Clark Midkiff of the University of Alabama’s Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies.
The effort to bolster research and development activities in the region came up often at the Southern Automotive Conference, which includes auto manufacturers from Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.
Midkiff said his university hasn’t been able to take advantage of the close proximity of the Mercedes-Benz plant to boost research capabilities.
Dennis Cuneo, a well-known industry site selection consultant, said the region ought to coordinate trying to attract more R&D.