By Alabama Public Radio
West Point, GA – There are going to be new job opportunities for some residents of east Alabama. South Korean automaker Kia Motors will build a one-point-two billion dollar plant in West Point, Georgia. That's near the Alabama state line. It will be Kia's first U-S manufacturing plant, and it will eventually employ almost 55-hundred people. Kia's parent company is Hyundai Motor Company. Hyundai already has a plant in Montgomery. Kia executives said that helped Georgia win the deal. The plant will initially hire about 29-hundred workers when it opens. Cars could begin rolling off the plant's two assembly lines in August of 2008. Workers are expected to produce 300-to-400-thousand vehicles a year.