This month marks the fourth anniversary of the Missouri Manufacturing Jobs Act, legislation that represented a major turning point for automotive manufacturing in Missouri. Since Gov. Nixon called the General Assembly into a special session to pass this landmark bill in the summer of 2010, an auto industry that was once on the ropes has come roaring back, creating thousands of jobs for Missourians in communities across the state.
Ford and General Motors have invested more than $1.5 billion to produce all-new vehicles at their plants in Claycomo and Wentzville. In Kansas City, Ford continues to build on its $1.1 billion investment with additional shifts and new jobs to build the Ford Transit van, previously manufactured overseas, and the best-selling Ford F-150. In fact, with the third shift of the Transit Van announced last month, Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant will produce more vehicles than any other Ford facility in the world.
Watch Gov, Nixon celebrate the rollout of the all-new, Missouri-made Ford Transit
Meanwhile, General Motors has brought production of two all-new vehicles, the GMC Canyon and the Chevy Colorado, to Wentzville, making a more than $500 million investment and recently announcing the creation of an additional 750 jobs.
Watch Gov. Nixon celebrate two new vehicles being manufactured at the GM Wentzville Plant: the GMC Canyon and the Chevrolet Colorado pickup trucks.
These historic investments have spurred a parallel resurgence by automotive suppliers, not only in St. Louis and Kansas City but in every corner of Missouri. An economic impact report released this week found that employment at Missouri automobile plants and suppliers will increase to nearly 14,000 by 2015 and result in the creation of more than 21,100 in-direct jobs.
These achievements are even more remarkable in light of the significant challenges this industry faced when Gov. Nixon took office. Assembly plants had closed and automotive jobs had declined more than 35 percent in the five years before Gov. Nixon took office in 2009.
Gov. Nixon was committed to turning things around. He created an Automotive Jobs Task Force, increased the state’s investments in workforce training, and traveled to Detroit to tell auto industry executives that Missouri was ready to compete for next-generation automotive manufacturing.
Today, the Governor’s decisive leadership is working, creating good manufacturing jobs and spurring economic growth across Missouri.
There will be more good news in the weeks and months ahead, so be sure to follow @GovJayNixon on Twitter and check www.MO.gov for updates.
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