Signs on the road to completing the Kia car plant. (Dave Bender)
Vehicles are set to roll off the Kia Motor assembly plant near West Point by November of 2009 according to Randy Jackson, Kia human resources director.
Jackson said an estimated 650 employees will be hired by the end of 2008, and that by the end of 2009, about half of the 2,500 team members expected at full capacity will have been hired.
Jackson said that output would depend on how quickly and how well the workforce training comes along. The company says it expects to reach the 2,500 employee benchmark in late 2010.
One hundred and sixteen professionals have been hired so far to work at the $1 billion facility, and have set up temporary offices in nearby LaGrange and at the plant site.
Companies supplying the plant have hired on over 5,000 employees, according to a Kia statement.
The plant will produce some 300,000 vehicles annually including the Sorrento SUV, and another, yet-to-be-named vehicle, when the facility reaches full capacity, Jackson said.
Kia officials in May quashed rumors of changes and uncertainty in their production plans, due to soaring gas prices. Senior Hyundai officials in Korea had been quoted in the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution as saying that the plant would retool to produce a small car, instead of a planned SUV model.
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