ATLANTA – North Carolina is out of the running for an automotive assembly plant and associated campus to be built by startup
However, Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., and sites in Georgia and Indiana are still on the list, the Atlanta-based company says.
Carbon Motors, founded and run by a former Ford Motors veteran, plans to build a vehicle designed specifically for law enforcement agencies. Some 10,000 jobs and $3 billion in related economic development are “at stake” over 10 years, the company says.
To design and build the so-called E-7, Carbon has said it would invest as much as $350 million. Its campus would include a headquarters, research and development, customer center and production center.
“We are honored and tremendously appreciative to have such great choices on where to produce the world’s first purpose-built law enforcement patrol vehicle for our nation’s law enforcement first responders,” said Carbon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William Li in a statement.
“Although there has been a great deal of focus on which state will be our home, we must remember that it is ‘country first’. The United States of America has a national security interest in seeing that this vehicle get into production as quickly as possible,” he added.
The plant location could be announced later this month.
A site near Charlotte was considered in North Carolina, according to the Greenville, S.C. News.
The Carolinas and Georgia are also on the short list for a South Korean company’s plan to build electric-powered vehicles in the U.S.
CT&T United says it will employ some 2,600 people over the next five years. The company said it would build “multiple facilities.” The vehicles are expected to go on sale in 2010. The company is a U.S.-based subsidiary of CT&T Korea.
CT&T plans to build “city drive,” mid-speed, high-speed and utility vehicles as well as a variety of batteries.
