Kentucky: GM Bowling Green Plant To Add 400 Jobs

The Warren County facility will build the next-generation Corvette, America’s most advanced series-production sports car.

By the BF Staff
From the July/August 2019 Issue

Gov. Matt Bevin recently joined General Motors Co. Chairman and CEO Mary Barra to announce the automaker’s plans to add a second shift and more than 400 new employees at the Bowling Green Assembly Plant in preparation to build the next-generation Chevrolet Corvette later this year.

Corvette
GM Chairman/CEO Mary Barra (in the passenger seat) took a spin in a “camouflaged” version of the next-generation Corvette. (Photo: motortrend.com)

“What a great day for Kentucky! I often speak about how we are the engineering and manufacturing hub of America. Today, we’re wearing that title more boldly than ever,” Gov. Bevin said. “These new workers, together with the plant’s current employees, will not only build the iconic Corvette and carry forward the nearly 40-year marriage between Corvette and Kentucky, but will also be members of the team that launches the technical tour-de-force, eighth-generation car off the production line and onto the global stage.”

The new jobs will push the plant’s total employment beyond 1,300.

“The Corvette’s iconic status owes so much to the men and women of Bowling Green, where it has been built exclusively for almost 40 years,” Barra said. “This is the workforce that can deliver a next generation Corvette worthy of both its historic past and an equally exciting future, and today’s announcement gets us one step closer to its reveal on July 18.”

Since 2011, GM has invested more than $900 million into Bowling Green plant upgrades. Recent projects included a new body shop, increased engine-building capacity, a new paint shop and addition of a Performance Build Center.

GM began building Corvettes at the Bowling Green plant in 1981. The facility has remained the exclusive home of the Corvette ever since. To date, its employees have produced more than 1 million Corvettes. The plant includes the largest solar array of any automaker in Kentucky, and its annual economic impact exceeds $76 million in state wages and $15 million in income tax.

The Corvette is the world’s longest-running, continuously produced passenger car, with more than 1.6 million units produced since 1954 and international recognition as America’s sports car.

GM has an incentive agreement from June 2016 when the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) preliminarily approved the company for up to $3 million in tax incentives through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of the new tax revenue it generates over the agreement term through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.

NUCOR PLANS $1.35B STEEL MILL

Nucor Corp. plans to build a $1.35-billion steel plate manufacturing mill in Meade County as both an immediate and long-term economic development achievement, creating more than 400 well-paying, full-time jobs in the coming years and ranking as one of the state’s largest-ever single investments.

“Nucor is a proven, longtime corporate citizen in Kentucky and a key partner in our world-class primary metals industry,” Gov. Bevin said at the project announcement. “We are grateful for the company’s decision to construct a new state-of-the-art mill in Brandenburg. This massive project will transform the region’s economy and provide high-quality jobs to Kentuckians for generations to come. Thanks to Nucor’s strong commitment to the commonwealth, we are taking another momentous step toward solidifying our reputation as America’s engineering and manufacturing center of excellence.”

The 1.5-million-square-foot facility, with a capacity of 1.2 million tons per year, will sit on 900 acres in the Buttermilk Falls Industrial Park along the Ohio River.