If you don’t think there is a level of "intrigue" in this boring old tire industry, well you just haven’t been paying attention.
Down in the southeast, the rumor mills are rife with cloak-n-dagger code names like "Project Soccer" and "Project Hercules." These are names supposedly assigned to major new investment projects that a handful of southeastern states are chasing like a thirsty man yearns for a glass of water.
Until yesterday, even the states themselves seemed to be confused by their own codifying, when some were sure that Bridgestone Americas’ “major economic development” was, in fact, the mysterious “Project Soccer” that had been banging around government halls for months in Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.
Surprise! That one was the aptly named “Project Hercules.” Get it, “Hercules” for giant OTR radials? Heh, heh, heh!
So South Carolina won the Project Hercules sweepstakes, and perhaps that code name wasn’t as well-known because it may never have been uttered outside of Columbia.
Still to be determined is where Continental Tire the Americas will land its planned Greenfield passenger and light truck/SUV tire plant, which it announced in April. Given that parent Continental AG has been a two-time international sponsor of soccer’s World Cup, “Project Soccer” appears to be the code name for this $400 million-$500 million project.
Word is both Carolinas are in the running, as is Louisiana. At least one media source has Brunswick County in North Carolina as the frontrunner in the Project Soccer derby, but nothing is for certain until the shovel hits the dirt, as they say.
Meanwhile, let’s have a little contest (and we’ll post this on our Facebook page, as well). We want your creative ideas for cool secret-spy “Project” names. If “Project Hercules” worked for Bridgestone’s OTR plant and “Project Soccer” works for CTA’s plant, what would you code name a new Michelin or Cooper or Hankook or Pirelli or any other tiremaker plant project?
The winner, as judged by our esteemed team of crack comedy pros, will walk away with a cool $100. That’s $100 U.S., people (sorry Canada, but it’s the best we can do). And this contest is open to dealers and tire company folks alike (Tire company employees: please include a fake code name for yourself, but you don’t get extra credit for two code names).
Keep your entries clean (’cause we’d like to publish them and this is still a family website), and leave them in the comments below, on our Facebook page, or send them to me at [email protected]. You have until Oct. 23 to enter!
