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" Ontario, Canada is challenging Michigan for the title of North America&amp;#039;s top auto producer, The Associated Press reported.   Last year, Ontario, which is separated from Michigan by lakes Huron, St. Clair and Superior and an occasional river, produced nearly 103,000 more vehicles than were built in Michigan, which accounted for roughly 2.6 million vehicles, the story said.   This was due in part to Michigan plant closings for model changeovers, but other factors such as health care costs and market-share declines for Detroit&amp;#039;s Big Three are also at work, the AP said, citing industry experts.   Detroit&amp;#039;s Big Three \u2014 General Motors, and DaimlerChrysler&amp;#039;s Chrysler Group \u2014 have eliminated thousands of jobs and closed U.S. plants while foreign automakers expanded operations in Ontario.   For example, recently announced it will open a $650 million assembly plant by 2007 in Woodstock, Ontario to build up to 100,000 small sport-utility vehicles a year.   Canada is also attractive to automakers because it subsidizes much of workers&amp;#039; health care costs, a problem plaguing Detroit companies.   And, in addition to a Canadian fund of $500 million to attract automotive projects to Ontario, Ford, GM, Toyota and others have committed $5 billion (Canadian) in new investments in the province in the past year alone. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a11047/ontario-canada-the-new-motown/>