UPDATE: Kia plant to add Optima production line and additional jobs to West Point plant

Experiencing strong sales success with the Sorento crossover utility vehicle it makes in nearby West Point, Ga., Kia Motors America said Thursday it is steering production of its Optima sedan from South Korea to the local assembly plant.

The automaker said production of the 2012 Optima, already redesigned for its 2011 version, will begin in West Point by the third quarter of this year.

The kicker for the local economy is the move assures the company’s third and latest hiring wave will continue deep into this year, with the work force at the main plant surging from its present level of 2,300 to around 3,000.

“We have been so pleased with our work force,” said Corinne Hodges, spokeswoman for Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia. “The performance and the effort that they’ve put forward has really resulted in a vehicle that’s top quality, and customers are recognizing that.”

The four-door Optima will be the third model made in West Point since the factory began production in November 2009. It started with the Sorento, then added the Hyundai Santa Fe sport utility vehicle last fall. That vehicle is marketed and distributed by Kia’s parent company, Hyundai Motors, which operates a plant near Montgomery, Ala.

The West Point facility churned out 123,500 Sorentos last year, making it the top seller for Kia Motors America 15 straight months. It accounted for 30 percent of U.S. sales last year, the company said.

The takeoff by Kia has been dizzying for the small community of West Point, conceded Mayor Drew Ferguson IV. The city with a population of around 3,400 relied heavily on the textile industry for decades until that sector’s demise over the last 20 years.

“Quite candidly, it’s amazing how quickly Kia and their suppliers are expanding and growing and, really, the impact that they’re having both on the local and regional level,” said the mayor, pointing out 38 new non-auto businesses have opened in the city over the last two years. They range from restaurants and service businesses to a new attorney and chiropractor.

“I think that it is moving along more quickly than we anticipated at first, which is good,” Ferguson said. “We knew that they would reach these levels at some point, but we thought that it would probably be a little further out into the future.”

Kia has said the West Point factory has the capacity to produce 300,000 vehicles per year at full throttle. The company is now in the process of shipping a new stamping press for auto parts from the Port of Savannah to the local facility.

Hodges declined to say if adding the Optima will put the plant at maximum production, although the company has said it can handle up to four different models at once.

“We’re still ramping toward that number,” she said. “However, that volume mix can be allocated basically according to demand.”

The pace of hiring for the company has not slowed over the past three-plus years. Its initial round in January-February 2008 attracted about 43,000 online applications. The second wave from November 2009 to May 2010 drew about 44,500 prospects. The current hiring blitz began last November and is still in progress.

The majority of the current work force lives in Georgia, Hodges said, with most people residing 60 miles or less from the plant. Muscogee County is a “popular” place for the company’s employees to live, she said.

“As you would expect, logically, if you draw a circumference around our plant 25 miles, that’s where the majority of our team members live,” Hodges said. “Draw it 50 miles and you’ll get kind of another cluster in that ring.”

When the mother plant does reach full operation, there are expected to be more than 7,500 individuals working at various auto suppliers clustered around the main facility off Interstate 85, just minutes from LaGrange, Ga.

“With the addition of this third line, we’re talking to Kia suppliers that are needing to be close to the plant,” said Becca Hardin, executive vice president of economic development for the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve got a couple of projects right now associated with the automotive industry that we’re working on.”

Muscogee Technology Park in Columbus and Northwest Harris Business Park near West Point are the two prime areas being sold to prospects, she said.

Kia Autosport general manager Ed Braun called the news of the automaker adding the Optima model to its local manufacturing mix “glorious.” The Columbus dealership on Box Road has fared well with sales of the Sorento, he said. The Soul, Forte and Optima have also done well, he said.

“We’ve had the best first quarter this dealership has ever had, and we’re on pace to have the best month that this dealership’s ever had,” Braun said of Kia Autosport’s nine-year run.

The redesigned Optima — which has top safety ratings — gives Kia dealers yet another product to compete against the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord, the general manager said. It doesn’t hurt a bit that it’s assembled less than an hour away from Columbus, which is a routine selling point to customers.

“People are loyal to Kia because it’s here locally,” Braun said. “And I think they recognize that it has a huge impact on the greater (Chattahoochee) valley area and it helps everyone.”

The shifting of production of the Optima from Korea to West Point was announced Thursday at the New York International Auto Show. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal welcomed the development and praised the burgeoning work force in west Georgia.

“This is a great win for Georgia and yet another tribute to the strength of our business environment and infrastructure,” he said in a statement. “I would especially like to recognize the residents of the western part of the state, who have made Kia welcome and contributed so much to its success.”

This story was originally published April 21, 2011 at 11:44 AM with the headline "UPDATE: Kia plant to add Optima production line and additional jobs to West Point plant."