Columbus area/Georgia lands Kia plant.

Lady Celeste · March 13, 2006

KIA is coming to Georgia.

Kia Motors Corp. will build its first U.S. auto assembly plant in Georgia, selecting the Troup County town of West Point, the company announced Sunday.

Gov. Sonny Perdue flew to South Korea this weekend and signed a deal with Kia officials in Seoul late Sunday.

Kia will have a groundbreaking in April and start building the factory during the second half of the year. The plant will open by 2009.

Kia is building the plant, which will produce 300,000 vehicles a year, to meet growing demand in the United States and Canada, where it expects to sell 800,000 units by 2010. Kia's Georgia plant will make passenger cars and either SUVs or minivans.

The plant will create 2,500 jobs, the company said. The company also said another five or six supplier companies surrounding the factory would hire 2,000 more people.

This is great news for the fast growing Columbus area.

Read the full story here:

Kia plant is coming to Georgia.

gah · March 13, 2006

Here are some factoids from today's Columbus Ledge-Enquirer:

Site < 40 minutes from DT Columbus (and virtually in metro area, as West Point partially in Harris County, tho plant site in Troup) WP "tied"to Columbus CoC via Valley Partnership

Located in WP because proximity to Columbus was "appealing" to Kia

Columbus mayor and CoC instrumental in decision. Kia visited Columbus Dec 6 and Columbus folks important in process

Columbus expects 100's of new jobs from Tier 1 and 2 suppliers.

ATLman1 · March 13, 2006

This is so great! The plant is expected to employ 2,893 people paying $50,000 with benefits stretching that figure $65,000! The state is also building a $25.7 million, 70,000-square-foot training facility. What a great win for the Columbus region!

Here are some articles from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

2,893 new jobs!

Kia Plant Facts

West Point/LaGrange set for massive growth

Pay Benefits

Timeline for Kia

Here comes Kia