Kia's first car rolls down the Georgia line

By Dan Chapman

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia is, once again, in the car-building business.

At 7:30 a.m. Friday, Kia Motors began production of its first road-ready crossover vehicle at its automobile factory in West Point, about 80 miles southwest of Atlanta. The Sorento was expected to roll off the production line – to huzzahs and high fives – late Friday or early Saturday.

The newly minted Sorento will go on display in the factory's lobby.

The South Korean automaker’s first U.S. manufacturing plant, built at a cost of $1 billion, brings good cheer and 1,200 much-needed jobs to a state and an economy that needs both.

“There is a real sense of accomplishment that we’ve actually been able to get to this point,” said Kia spokeswoman Joanne Mabrey.

Kia, which broke ground on the 2,200-acre industrial park near Alabama three years ago, will hold a ceremonial first car roll-out Nov. 16.

Georgians last built an automobile in 2008 at the now-shuttered General Motors plant in Doraville. Ford’s Hapeville plant closed in 2006.

Corralling Kia was considered a major industrial-recruitment coup for Georgia. But winning the state’s only automaker came at a high cost: roughly $400 million in incentives, tax breaks, training costs and other inducements for Kia.

West Point Mayor Drew Ferguson insists the price, much borne by his city and neighboring municipalities, are worth the new jobs, families, homes and businesses scattered across west Georgia and east Alabama. The West Point area had be hard hit with the demise of the textile industry.

“Everybody is affected by the national economy, but the fact that we’ve got this incredible opportunity here in west Georgia is exciting,” he said. “So many things have happened in such a short period of time to transform this city.”

Kia hopes to hire an additional 1,200 workers next year as production ramps up and another vehicle is built. Salaries range from $14.90 to $20.80 an hour.

Auto parts suppliers have joined Kia, adding 3,000 jobs. Georgia Tech estimates 20,000 new jobs by 2012 across a nine county swath of west Georgia and east Alabama.

“It’s very exciting to see a building of that magnitude come out of the ground and to see the jobs and the families that benefit from it all,” said Heidi Greene, deputy commissioner for global commerce with the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “And we’re very excited to see the first car roll off the line too.”