WEST POINT, Ga. (AP) -- Kia Motors has hired almost 700 workers for its west Georgia factory, which is scheduled to go into production in December.
Kia's human resources manager, Randy Jackson, told the Troup County Coalition on Monday that the South Korea-based automaker had just added 90 more employees. The assembly plant expects to have 1,000 to 1,200 workers when it starts production and 2,500 making 300,000 cars per year by the end of 2010.
The new generation Sorento will be the first model in West Point, and a small number of test vehicles have been built since April.
Jackson says suppliers will add another 7,500 jobs, and the ripple effect will bring an additional 30,000 jobs in construction, hotels, restaurants and other businesses to the region.