Magna Steyr is the automotive world’s answer to a kick-ass session band. Just as L.A.’s Wrecking Crew provided the backing tracks to hundreds of hit 1960s songs without anyone buying the records realizing the guys on the record covers weren’t playing their own instruments, so Magna provides car-building services to OEMs ranging from BMW to Toyota from its base in Austria.
But Magna, and Fisker, which has recently contracted it to produce the new Ocean SUV, and Jaguar, for whom Magna already builds the I-Pace EV, have a problem. Under the terms of the Biden Administration’s new Inflation Act, tax breaks for drivers of electric vehicles now depend on the vehicle being built in North America. And that means any EVs built in Europe and imported to the U.S. are going to struggle to compete with domestic rivals on price. News that Magna is considering opening a plant in the U.S. therefore isn’t a big surprise.
“We want to enter the U.S. market. We are intensively looking for a location right now,” Auto News reports Magna Steyr’s vice president, Kurt Bachmaier, telling Automobilwoche.
Bachmaier didn’t disclose where the plant would be based, though he did say that California has been ruled out as a potential site. He also highlighted that wind levels and the number of hours of sunshine could play a key role in determining the location because Magna wants to generate sustainable electricity.
“We want a climate-friendly plant,” Bachmaier told Automobilwoche’s reporters.
Magna Steyr is owned by Canada’s Magna International, but its manufacturing base is in Europe. Vehicles it currently produces for carmakers include the BMW 5-Series and Z4, Jaguar E-Pace and I-Pace, Toyota Supra and Mercedes G-Class, but in the past it has built everything from the Aston Martin Rapide to the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Production of the Fisker Ocean is due to start at the Graz, Austria site in November.