John McCloud is editor of Industry Property Journal, from which this article is excerpted.

Pinson, AL—Even as some markets reel from the falling fortunes of major US automobile manufacturers, others hope to take advantage of improvements in alternative segments of the automotive industry. North Central Alabama is the latest region to benefit from continued growth among Asian automakers following an announcement by a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Isuzu Motors Ltd. that it plans to build a truck assembly plant in this town of 5,000 northeast of Birmingham. Isuzu Manufacturing Services of America Inc. of Cerritos, CA paid San Francisco-based Del Monte Corp. $7.8 million for a 280,000-sf closed food distribution center here, which it plans to use for manufacturing.

During the past decade, Alabama has become a major force in the automotive industry. DaimlerChrysler AG, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama LLC, Hyundai Motor Corp. and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama Inc. all have manufacturing and assembly facilities in the state. One of the Isuzu site's neighbors is a factory owned by Ogihara America Corp. of Howell, MI, which builds body panels for two of those four car companies. But several other Southern states, notably Mississippi and Tennessee, have also become automotive powerhouses. In October, Georgia joined the list of big-timers when Seoul, Korea-based Hyundai began construction of a $1.2-billion KIA manufacturing facility in West Point, about 50 miles southwest of Atlanta.

Now North Carolina wants in on the act, hoping to become the primary manufacturing base for another segment of the automotive industry with a promising future. The state, which already boasts several automotive suppliers, is making an intensive pitch to land the $100-million plant envisioned by Tesla Motors Inc., a San Carlos, CA startup that builds high-end roadsters that get 130 miles to a gallon of gas. Seeded with $60 million in venture capital, the four-year-old company produced its first 225 cars last year at a leased factory in the UK. It plans to produce 1,000 more there this year. Those models cost $130,000, but the company plans to build a US plant that would produce up to 10,000 units a year of a model priced around $50,000.