Competing Hybrid Auto Plants?

Bay Minette Less than two weeks after HK Motors announces plans for Bay Minette a former business partner throws out a similar idea in Mississippi.

by Tiffany Craig

Published: Tue, October 06, 2009 - 4:54 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, October 06, 2009 - 5:05 pm CST

BAY MINETTE, Alabama - A hybrid car company just announced plans for a massive auto plant in Tunica, Mississippi.

If this story sounds familiar, it is.

Less than two weeks ago, HK Motors proposed the same type of plan for Bay Minette.

Read on and you'll learn that the auto companies have quite a bit in common.

The scene in Tunica, Mississippi looked more like a car show than an auto plant announcement. GreenTech unveiled the family of hybrids they want to build at a proposed 6.5 billion dollar facility.

The man behind the plan is Charles Wang. "We will manufacture energy efficient cars using the most advance and reliable automotive and hybridization technologies from Europe and Asia."

Wang had a business partner once, his name is Benjamin Yeung. That name might sound familiar because his company, HK Motors, recently announced a similar plan for Bay Minette.

Yeung and Wang originally had hopes of constructing one giant plant in Tunica until they had a falling out. Wang stayed in Mississippi and Yeung headed to Alabama.

We don't know if the two auto tycoons ever patched things up but it looks like their business ventures will go head-to-head for funding.

Both companies plan to use the federal EB-5 program. It offers a fast track to citizenship for foreigners willing to invest at least half a million dollars into an American company.

James Debates with HK tells us that there are plenty of potential investors and they don't see GreenTech as a threat. Aside from looking in China, HK is branching out to India to find investors for their project.

Debates is still confident that they can secure the funding to roll the first car off the assembly line as early as 2012.

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