WEST POINT, Ga. — Kia Motors executives like to say the South Korean automaker has the power to surprise.
But residents of this West Georgia city say Kia’s new auto assembly plant has offered few surprises as it starts to fulfill the economic promise many expected while the region emerges from the recession.
“We’ve got hope and others don’t,” said Eddie Striblin, owner of the Downtown Diner in West Point, a city of 3,200 where the plant is located.
Kia, which started production at its first American factory last November, is on track to hire the 2,500 workers it pledged when the project was unveiled four years ago.