Georgia Kia Plant

    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.