Kia, specifically, has enjoyed amazing success since coming to the American market 12 years ago (7 years ago in Canada), when
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| Kia, which now sells a full-size luxury car, the Amanti, in North America, expects to grow to 800,000 units by 2010. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press) |
it sold only a single model, the compact Sephia sedan, later joined by the first-generation Sportage compact SUV. Now, after 12 years of consecutive sales records, capped off with 275,871 vehicles sold in 2005, it has expanded to a full product line of vehicles. February 2006 sales were record-level again, up some 3.2 percent compared to February of last year. Kia expects its North American sales, in both the U.S. and Canada, to increase by 15 percent to 350,000 units in 2006, plus grow beyond this mark to 800,000 units by 2010. Ambitious? For sure. Probability? Likely.
Georgia, despite Kia's announcement which buoyed spirits across the state, isn't planning to achieve the same level of growth that its newest corporate
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KMC President and CEO Euisun Chung and Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue were on hand for the official signing ceremony in Souel. (Photo: Kia Canada)
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partner should enjoy in coming years, but it would be nice for its employment rate to stay even with today's numbers, which is currently benefiting, over the short term at least, from GM and Ford's presence. This in mind, will Kia's decision to invest $1.2 billion USD in West Point cause rival import brands to overlook other states and Canadian provinces and choose Georgia when setting up new manufacturing plants, thereby potentially offsetting every job lost from the closure of the two GM and Ford plants? For Georgia to think this, as its leading newspaper has suggested, seems a bit naïve, or at the very least, a little too "blue sky". There were no doubt many reasons why Kia chose West Point, Georgia over other reported front-runners, such as Lauderdale County,
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| Could the Kia deal attract more automakers to Georgia? (Photo: Kia Canada) |
Mississippi; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Aiken, South Carolina; Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Decatur, Alabama.
Those jurisdictions, however, are now lamenting what would never become reality, at least with Kia, and therefore weren't celebrating the news being announced from Seoul, delivered by KMC President and CEO Euisun Chung and Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. No doubt the fight between states, and Ontario, to maintain current levels of auto sector employment and possibly even grow the segment, will continue. A civil war in the making? At least the South, on the whole, can take some confidence in knowing that the Rebs won one over on the Northern Yanks.
