Imagine: After years of a rapidly declining manufacturing base, cars — newly built ones — rolling off an assembly line.
Detroit? Try Inland Empire.
It could happen by next year, officials said.
Automotive manufacturing is returning to Southern California with the opening of a Fisker Automotive and Technology Group factory in Moreno Valley.
The company’s 550,000 square-foot plant, on Perris Boulevard in Moreno Valley, will bring back car building to Southern California after a more than two-decade hiatus and boost what has been a sagging manufacturing sector in the region.
And it will bring jobs, officials said — about 150 of them.
What they are doing
Fisker Automotive will produce plug-in hybrid electric vehicles at the Moreno Valley plant for global sales.
The company was founded in 2007 and had been based in Anaheim, before filing for bankruptcy in 2013. Before that, the cars had been manufactured in Finland. The company was purchased by a Chinese company, the Hangzhou City-based Wanxiang Group, in 2014. It’s headquarters moved to Costa Mesa in early 2014.
Officials have not released a more specific timeframe for when production will begin.
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“Right now we’re working on getting our company together and making sure we launch a quality product,” company spokeswoman Judy Hoste said.
But things are already happening now.
Construction has begun, according to the company.
And officials on Tuesday were touting on Facebook the first construction permit for the facility.
“It took less than a week to receive the first permit back from the City, and construction work in the plant has begun,” according to the post.
Late last month, the company planned a first round of job recruitment events.
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Why they are doing it
“FATG believes in the quality, work ethic and competitiveness of manufacturing in the United States,” said James Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer of FATG, in a statement. “California’s natural beauty, trend-setting, technology, and environmental focus are perfectly aligned with our Karma re-launch.”
And there’s the competition.
Fisker’s plant will join competitor Tesla’s in the Bay Area in the alternatively fueled car market.
And of course, there’s the horsepower of its early years.
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Fisker Automotive was founded in 2005 by car designer Henrik Fisker — the idea reportedly to bring innovative new thinking to the auto industry.
It would be a bumpy road, from the trevails of raising money to bankruptcy.
But the brand would catch the eyes of celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Justin Bieber.
Why the Inland Empire cares
John Husing, chief economist for the Inland Empire Economic Partnership business advocacy group, said manufacturing, in general, has had a tough time expanding in the state given the high cost of energy and what he said was a difficult regulatory environment for manufacturing.
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“It’s good news that Fisker has decided to take the gamble of putting a facility like this in the Inland Empire,” Husing said. “There are a couple of reasons they should be locating here if they’re going to be locating anywhere. The first is that our space costs are substantially less expensive than anywhere else in the Southland. The second thing is that labor costs tend to be somewhat less expensive than in the coastal counties.”
Husing added that a good deal of Fisker’s market is likely to be in Southern California, “because this is an automobile culture.”
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Mike Lee, economic development director for the city of Moreno Valley said Fisker chose the city because of it’s location, strong labor force, and affordability.
“Our location is ideal for them,” Lee said. “We sit between the 60 and the 215 (freeways) and we are an hour away from Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange counties, and three hours away from Las Vegas and Arizona. We have an excellent labor pool and our land prices are still affordable.”
Lee said that the city hopes Fisker will be able to expand building their flagship car, the Fisker Karma, which officials expect will start rolling off the Moreno Valley plant by next year.
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“It will probably be a re-launched Karma,” , Hoste said.
Information about job opportunities can be found at www.rivcoworkforce.com