Mikeg, Wesley Mouch, et al.: Your arguments prompted me to do more research last night, and I now agree that were sound logistical reasons for moving many automotive factory operations out of the city. That said, I still believe there were also racial motivations at play, too. Sugrue notes:

"Between 1947 and 1958, the Big Three built 25 new plants in the Detroit metropolitan area, all of them in suburban communities, most more than 15 miles from the center city."

That many of those suburban communities would remain predominately white [[often over 90-95% white) for decades was no coincidence. In a sense, the poor planning of Detroit was used against blacks - it made it all too easy to move factories out of the city and to all to easy to keep blacks pinned into the city. The suburbs allowed to people to create their own bubble communities separate from the city, with the end result being utter dilapidation of large swathes of Detroit.

Thanks, everyone, for the insightful posts. I only make the arguments I do in the hope that my points will be refuted - I find it's the most expedient way to gain knowledge.