Japanese vehicle maker Isuzu is expected to announce soon that it will build commercial trucks in Birmingham, creating hundreds of jobs.
Isuzu Manufacturing Services of America Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Isuzu Motors Ltd., recently purchased the 300,000-square-foot former Del Monte Corp. distribution center in Pinson Valley for nearly $8 million.
The company plans to invest millions of dollars to convert the warehouse into a truck assembly plant, sources with knowledge of the project said. The number of initial jobs is not known, but the plant has the potential to approach 1,000 within a few years, those sources say.
The jobs will involve assembling trucks from parts manufactured at other locations.
Economic development officials were mum on the project Friday, but the sources said Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid and Gov. Bob Riley have been in negotiations with Isuzu for several months, as have the Metropolitan Development Board, the Alabama Development Office and Alabama Power Co.
The project will quality for incentives from the city and the state based on the extent of Isuzu's investment and the number of jobs to be created, using a formula spelled out by state law. It's possible additional incentives could be offered.
Ted vonCannon, president of the Metropolitan Development Board, on Friday would not discuss Isuzu, citing the agency's policy of not discussing current or future projects without company consent. Isuzu officials also would not comment Friday.
However, Isuzu President Yoshinori Ida was quoted by the Reuters news service in Japan last month as saying the company was considering building a truck factory in North America. He did not identify a site or the potential size of the project.
Ida said Isuzu would be ready for a U.S. truck plant when the company's sales here hit 50,000 vehicles per year. Isuzu projected sales of 32,000 in 2006, up from 25,000 in 2005.
Isuzu currently operates a commercial truck assembly plant in Janesville, Wis., in a joint venture with General Motors. That plant builds fewer than 5,000 trucks per year.
Most of the company's vehicles sold in the United States currently are imported from Japan. Isuzu produces around 200,000 diesel engines a year in another GM joint-venture plant in Ohio.
The Birmingham plant would not be a GM joint venture, source said.
The company now sells a 3.5-ton truck used for commercial deliveries and other uses. The company has proposed building a smaller commercial truck for the U.S. market. An unidentified Isuzu executive in December told Reuters the company also would like to add a four-ton truck to its lineup around 2009.
The former Del Monte distribution facility has been vacant since the company consolidated its operations in 2005, eliminating 80 jobs. The building is at 1573 Sterilite Drive, next to the Ogihara America Corp. plant, a major supplier to Mercedes-Benz in Vance, Honda in Lincoln and other automakers in the Southeast.
Isuzu, which is expected to make a formal announcement regarding the plant in the coming weeks, is one of the world's largest makers of medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The Isuzu Commercial Truck has been the No.1-selling low cab forward truck in America for 20 straight years.
