DaimlerChrysler might build a cargo van assembly plant in Jacksonville, Florida, creating thousands of jobs, Associated Press (AP) reported, citing state Representative Mike Hogan.
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The Jacksonville Republican told AP on Thursday that DC is looking at the Cecil Commerce Centre as a potential factory site.
Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina are also competing for the plant, which would be built by 2006, AP said, citing a story in The Florida Times-Union on Friday.
DC is playing it “very close to the vest,” Hogan told AP, but incentives offered by the state will be a key factor in securing the deal.
Citing spokesman Trevor Hale, AP said that DC wants to expand production of its Mercedes-Benz-designed Sprinter cargo vans, but hasn’t determined whether to do so in the United States or in Dusseldorf, Germany, where the vans’ parts originate now.
Hale declined to comment to AP on the locations or terms for a possible plant.
AP said that Jacksonville competed in 1993 to be the home of DC’s first U.S.-based Mercedes-Benz assembly plant.
The city lost that bid to Vance, Alabama.
