New Kia Supplier Opening Shop

Backhoe removing foliage for entrance road off I-85 to Kia plant at West Point. (file photo/Dave Bender)

The State of Georgia has inked a deal with a Korean company, that will manufacture parts for a Kia auto plant being built at West Point.

The Governor's Office says the Sewon Precision company will create 700 jobs and invest $170 million dollars in the LaGrange facility. It'll be built over the next three years at a site not far from the Kia production facility being built in West Point.

The Sewon plant will make chassis and body parts for Kia SUVs. Georgia and Korean officials signed the deal on Wednesday, and the plant will be the company's first facility in the United States.

Governor Sonny Perdue met with a range of Korean officials in October, Sewon among them, in a bid to sign as many local Kia suppliers as possible. Kia's West Point auto plant is scheduled to open in 2009, and the company is opening an internet site for job-seekers at http://www.kiajobsingeorgia.com.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the Kia facility.