New Porsche headquarters, 1 mile or so from where I work! Options

[SirAndy]

There have been protests down here about the name change because of Porsche's WWII connections.

You are going to have a hard time finding anyone German who doesn't have a WW2 connection.
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[smj]

There have been protests down here about the name change because of Porsche's WWII connections.

Gosh, these folks must spend a lot of time protesting at Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and VW facilities. Are they still demanding that Sears stop selling things made by Krupps, because of their use of slave labor during the war? Have they driven Bosch (!!) out of the local appliance dealers and auto parts stores?

Sigh. I really hope this is a small number of idiots getting attention simply because they're protesting something. If not, I'm sure they'd welcome those jobs in the Carolinas...

I am proud of them for not killing another green field site.

No idea why they'd pick Atlanta, but I guess that is ok.

Agreed, it's good that they can redevelop an existing site. As for Atlanta, the East Coast makes plenty of sense for any European outfit - easier to sync timezones, Boston-Atlanta axis is still the majority of your market here, logistics support, etc.

[JawjaPorsche]

There have been protests down here about the name change because of Porsche's WWII connections.

You are going to have a hard time finding anyone German who doesn't have a WW2 connection.
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Here is the article from Atlanta Journal:

With the upcoming construction of a new $100 million state-of-the-art North American headquarters for Porsche, Atlanta’s City Utilities Committee has authorized the renaming of Henry Ford, II Avenue/South Central Avenue to Porsche Avenue.

The original proposal was to change the name to Ferdinand Porsche Avenue, after the founder of the auto company. But the council decided to allow the name to be changed to the company’s name, instead of the founder to address concerns about Ferdinand Porsche’s personal and political life.

It is widely acknowledged that Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian-German automotive engineer, who also created the Volkswagen Beetle and the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, had close ties to Nazi Party.

As part of the renaming, the committee has required that the auto company reach out the Anti-Defamation League and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

The full council will vote on the change next week.

[ripper911]

The sign still says Ferdinand Porsche Ave...
Porsche Ave will be easier to say when giving directions, just might have to pronounce it wrong so people understand.

[Woody]

Porsche has been headquartered out of Atlanta for years, been there many times. This is just a new facility which will house everything under one roof.

[Jamie]

It appears that the track layout replicates the Sport Performance School facilities at Barber in Birmingham, so I wonder if they will be moving that operation as well? I haven't heard of any protests over the big Toyota plant here in my hometown of Georgetown KY, so maybe only the Germans are still considered the bad guys! (;-O)

[oldschool]

The sign still says Ferdinand Porsche Ave...
Porsche Ave will be easier to say when giving directions, just might have to pronounce it wrong so people understand.

Ripper..I just back back from GA...I was at the Hilton in Marietta conference center..was that a bad area? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[ripper911]

I like Marietta, I don't live far from there. Not sure where the Hilton is, but I doubt it's in the few "bad" areas around there.

[ThePaintedMan]

Huh, I didn't know about all that, this is pretty cool. Glad someone is making use of the old Ford plant and you know Porsche will do it right.

Also, regarding the naming, I thought it was pretty common knowledge that Henry Ford was also a Nazi sympathizer and had close ties as well. I'm a Ford owner, so I guess its okay for me to bring that up. Never seemed to hurt sales in the U.S. though?

[carguy914]

That will be really cool with the test track onsite (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

When I moved to Charleston, SC in 1996 the Porsche POE facility was here and I was able visit that operation a couple of times.....really impressive!!

[JawjaPorsche]

The old Ford assembly plant holds special significance to me. My father worked there for over 20 years. He was foreman of the chassis line. That was the only brand we drove!

Also, Ford used to have a program for employee's sons. (No daughters allowed back then) It was called Ford Day Camp. We would go to work with our dad and even spend some time with him on the assembly line! Needless to say, we did not have OSHA back then! We got to go to the company cafeteria with him and eat lunch too! The rest of the time we watch cartoons/movies and boarded a bus to go swimming nearby! We got a nice t-shirt with the Ford emblem on the front. Great times!

[brcacti]

very cool, I had one at age 28-30, 1982-84 should have never sold it, but now I have one AGAIN (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)