2007 Report Looked to Hyundai’s Impact as North Mobile County Prepared for Growth
Archived WKRG coverage examined how Hyundai's growth in central Alabama could foreshadow changes expected in North Mobile County.
Historical report, published from archived local news coverage.
An archived local economic-development report from August 2007 looked at the changes associated with Hyundai’s central Alabama plant as a possible preview of the growth expected in North Mobile County. The report profiled Alabama Development Office leader Neil Wade and described his role in recruiting business investment to the state. It noted that Hyundai’s plant south of Montgomery had transformed a largely rural area, particularly Greenville, where new industries and residents followed the automaker’s arrival. The station presented those changes as context for the anticipated local impact of ThyssenKrupp in North Mobile County. This is a historical account of expectations at the time and does not assess later development results.
The projects being compared
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama began producing vehicles at its Montgomery plant in 2005. ThyssenKrupp announced in May 2007 that it had chosen a site near Calvert in north Mobile County for a new steel complex, a few months before this report aired.
The Alabama Development Office was the state agency responsible for recruiting industry at the time; its functions later became part of the Alabama Department of Commerce.
