Car companies are leaving the state that built car culture. Why??
Government can only drive a knife into the side of their own local businesses for so long, before those businesses leave the abusive relationship. And likewise, governments can only demonize these local auto-aftermarket businesses for so long, before they pack their sh!t & go.
Read the announcement from Edelbrock & PRI here.
Reading through the ‘PR verbiage’ of this statement, my opinion is this…
Edelbrock is not just moving out of CA because of a merger. But additionally, California is making it increasingly difficult to run a business within the automotive industry. A few months ago, CA Governor Gavin Newsom issued an order stating that by 2035, all new cars & passenger trucks sold in California will be zero-emission vehicles. It’s big statement, and (regardless of intent) it puts a huge target directly on the backs of California-based automotive-aftermarket businesses.
(The automotive-aftermarket industry accounts for roughly 380 billion globally, and that heartbeat started in Southern California.)
Adding to the strain, California-based businesses have been forced to shut down, or at best, run on skeleton staffs since the COVID pandemic. So the question is: Once the Edelbrock main office is moved & settled in Mississippi, how much incentive will there be for the rest of Edelbrock to stay in California longterm?
