Would-be automaker drops plans for Ouachita Parish

Startup auto manufacturer Next Autoworks Co. has withdrawn its application for more than $320 million in federal loans that would have funded a plant in Ouachita Parish, thus ending a project that had been more than two years in the making. Next Autoworks chief executive Kathleen Ligocki says the company has officially withdrawn its loan application from the Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program, The News-Star reports. Ligocki says the DOE advised the company on Tuesday that its application would not be approved, given political and credit-risk concerns regarding the funding of startup companies. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret says the state is disappointed that Next Autoworks was unable to secure financing necessary to move the project forward. The state and local governments had offered as much as $67 million in grants, $12.8 million in employee training services and an estimated $33.8 million in tax abatements as incentives to help get the company operational, but they were always conditional on the DOE loan approval.