What might that mean for the economy of Central and Southside Virginia?
A. I think it’s enough of a departure from the ordinary automobile that it could literally be the beginning of a whole new Detroit. Detroit has lost assembly plants, but Detroit has not lost the research and development for the automobile. In America, automobiles are designed, prototyped and tested in Michigan. The high-paying, quality jobs in the auto industry are all in Detroit. Our project is such a rescaling that it can be in a whole new location. It could literally become a second type of automobile industry that could live in parallel to the original automobile industry. It’s enough of a departure that we do not need Detroit. What it could mean for Virginia, if Virginia does embrace it and I am successful in convincing some of these companies to move their really innovative engineers down here to work with us, then what I’m proposing now — this little technology park with 50 people in it could eventually grow to having 500 people or 5,000 people and spawn a whole new industry. Th
