WEST POINT, Ga. (AP) -- Gov. Sonny Perdue joined Korean and American dignitaries in celebrating the opening of Kia's first North American manufacturing facility in west Georgia.
Mong-Koo Chung, chairman of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, was also on hand for the festivities in West Point. Perdue and Chung announced that Kia would come to Georgia four years ago.
The Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia Plant was touted as a $1 billion investment in the state that would create 2,500 jobs. The 2,200-acre site is the home of the new Kia Sorento CUV and at full capacity, the facility will have the ability to produce 300,000 vehicles annually.
The plant's economic impact to Georgia is estimated at about $4 billion a year and could bring 20,000 new jobs to a nine-county region by 2012.
