Company to manufacture battery-powered delivery vehicles with Ford
Despite the doom and gloom of the economic recession, the Northland just landed a high-tech company you might not expect to call the Midwest home.
During a press conference March 27 at the Ambassador Building, the Kansas City Aviation Department announced Kansas City International Airport’s newest tenant: Smith Electric Vehicles.
The full details of its incentive package were not immediately clear.
The company, headquartered in the United Kingdom, produces fully electric commercial vehicles and will begin building vehicles in an 80,000-square-foot space inside the American Airlines Overhaul Base at KCI in the third quarter of 2009.
Smith Electric Vehicles’ offices will be housed on the third floor of the Ambassador Building.
The company is expected to bring 120 jobs to the area immediately when it begins production of the plant’s first vehicle, the Newton, which the company already produces in Europe.
The Newton is a box truck with a payload of 1,600 pounds, a range of 100 miles and a top speed of 50 miles per hour.
Missouri Gov. Jeremiah “Jay†Nixon spoke at the press conference and praised the project for its potential to help the local economy.
“(The facility brings) 120 new, cutting-edge, high-tech manufacturing jobs,†he said. “One hundred twenty more families working and earning a living, providing clothing, buying groceries and contributing to the local economy.â€
Nixon also said the facility would help to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil and lead the auto industry into the 21st century, putting Kansas City in a position to become a hub for the manufacturing of next-generation vehicles.
Brian Hansel, CEO of Smith Electric Vehicles’ U.S. division, echoed Nixon’s statements, saying his company has an opportunity to change travel and transportation in the United States by bringing European technology stateside.
In the next few years, Hansel said he expects the manufacturing facility to add another 180 jobs and in 2010, Smith Electric Vehicles will begin producing another vehicle in tandem with Ford called the Ford Transit Connect.
The Transit Connect is a commercial van with a top speed of 70 miles per hour and a 100-mile range.
Hansel said the company has already secured interest in its vehicles in the United States with companies like Coca-Cola, Frito Lay and AT&T. When asked how many vehicles, Hansen expected to produce and sell, he said it would depend on the market conditions but insisted there was an excited market for the vehicles in the United States.
Staff writer Michael Westblade can be reached at 389-6636 or michaelwestblade@npgco.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
