DANVILLE/PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) – An international sports car company is locating operations at Cane Creek Center in the Danville-Pittsylvania County area because of the region's robust talent pipeline and education programs.
Cane Creek Industrial Park is home to many well-known companies, including AeroFarms and more recently Tyson Foods.
Now, European businesses are also planning to set up shop at the park, furthering the economic success of the park, which straddles Danville and Pittsylvania counties.
“This region is getting attention not just nationally but around the world,” said Vic Ingram, chairman of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facilities Authority, “so I think that with what we have to offer and the vibrant environment, they thought this would be a good place for U.S. companies to locate their offices.”
RBW EV Cars is the UK's only builder of hand-built electric classic sports cars.
The company is now investing $8 million in a new facility at Cane Creek Centre, creating 144 new jobs.
“We chose that location for a few reasons, but mainly not for the reasons you might think,” says Peter Swain, CEO of RBW EV Cars. “Financials are very important in business, but we believe in a blend of mindset, culture and quality.”
The CEO said they were looking at five locations around the country, including Texas and other states, but Danville emerged as the winner after looking at local universities and training programs.
“Education, especially EV education and employee training, was essential to us. When we toured Danville, we thought it was a great environment. We often found ourselves thinking positively about the future for people in the community. So, it just naturally felt like this was the perfect place,” Swain added.
The new factory will allow the company to produce its first left-hand drive RBW EV Roadster and GT models for Americans.
“The US has a great workforce and a great attitude, especially in entrepreneurship, and if we want to leverage that and build a big business, we want to get closer to the market and work to have a base to manufacture British-designed vehicles in the US,” Swain said.
The company plans to move in within the next few weeks and begin operations early next year.
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