Don't Expect Automakers to Open New Factories

DetroitWhen President Donald Trump visited Michigan in mid-March, he came to remind executives about his automotive field of dreams.In an airport hangar in Ypsilanti where, during World War II, they used to make bombers, the president pushed leaders of foreign and domestic automakers to build new factories in America, not merely expand existing plants. Trump vowed that in exchange he would continue easing regulations such as for fuel economy and would fulfill his campaign promise to cut taxes.It's the Trumpian version of if you build it, he will come. But it is highly unlikely that automakers will be mowing down cornfields any time soon to construct new factories.The problems are many. The highly cyclical auto industry last year set a U.S. sales record of 17.55 million vehicles. It was the seventh consecutive year of sales increases, a phenomenon not experienced since the modern industry was launched during the go-go 1920s.