Electric vehicle maker Rivian announced Thursday it plans to build a new assembly plant and battery factory on about 2,000 acres along I-20 about an hour’s drive east of Atlanta.
The $5 billion project is expected to employ 7,500 over the next several years. Georgia officials say the project could grow to 10,000 jobs, and ranks as the largest single economic development project in state history.
Below are other blockbuster manufacturing projects still in operation in Georgia. Though not an exhaustive list, the projects employ thousands of Georgians and reshaped their communities.
Rivian
Location: Southern Walton and Morgan counties
Jobs: 7,500 to 10,000
Project description: A manufacturing plant for battery-powered luxury trucks, sport utility vehicles and delivery vans. The project also includes a battery facility on about 2,000 acres between Social Circle and Rutledge. State and Rivian officials said the factory also will attract spinoff jobs from Rivian suppliers that are expected to build their own factories in the years ahead. The details of the state and local incentive package aren’t fully known, but the value is likely well into the nine figures.
Credit: Clayco Construction
Credit: Clayco Construction
SK Battery America
Location: Commerce
Jobs: 2,600 expected
Project description: South Korean conglomerate SK Innovation announced plans in 2018 to build a sprawling factory to produce lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. The plant, which eventually increased to an expected $2.6 billion investment, will supply batteries to Ford and Volkswagen for new EVs. At full capacity, the factory is expected to produce enough batteries to power 300,000 EVs per year. The recruitment of SK also came with an incentive package of about $300 million in grants, tax credits, free land and worker training.
Credit: Bita Honarvar
Credit: Bita Honarvar
Kia Motors
Location: West Point
Jobs: More than 2,700
Project description: When it opened in 2009, Kia’s first U.S. automotive assembly plant transformed West Point and surrounding cities that had suffered from the decline of textile manufacturing. Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia builds its popular Sorrento and Telluride SUVs and the new K5 sedan in West Point. Those models are sold in the U.S. and shipped to other countries. Kia chose the West Point location, in part, because it is near corporate cousin Hyundai’s factory near Montgomery, Ala., and the companies share suppliers. Kia invested $1.8 billion in the factory and ultimately recruited numerous suppliers to Georgia, which created thousands of additional jobs. Incentives offered to Kia totaled more than $400 million, according to past reporting by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Credit: GULFSTREAM
Credit: GULFSTREAM
Gulfstream
Location: Savannah
Jobs: 9,700 in Georgia, including corporate jobs
Project description: Gulfstream came to Savannah in 1967 with 100 employees. Today, it operates a massive campus that surrounds the Savannah airport. Gulfstream’s sleek private jets are bought mostly by major corporations, governments and celebrities. The company builds several models in Savannah, including the G600, the G650/G650ER, the G700 and G800.
Credit: HANDOUTAJC file photo
Credit: HANDOUTAJC file photo
Bell Bomber (now Lockheed Martin)
Location: Marietta
Jobs: About 29,000 at its World War II peak; 4,500 today
Project description: After the U.S. entered World War II, the federal government selected Marietta for an air field and aerospace factory known as Air Force Plant 6 where giant B-29 bombers rolled off the assembly line. At its peak, the Bell Bomber employed about 29,000, and the factory supercharged development of Cobb County. After the war, the factory lay largely dormant until 1951, when Lockheed restarted operations amid the Korean War.
The Marietta plant is one of Lockheed’s main manufacturing centers. Today, it builds C-130J military cargo planes, performs upgrades to C-5 Galaxy transports and P-3 Orion patrol aircraft, and builds components for all three versions of the F-35 stealth fighter.
Credit: Lockheed Martin
Credit: Lockheed Martin
Sources: AJC archives, Select Georgia, the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Kia and Gulfstream.
About the Author
