When the fruity people at Del Monte closed their Pinson Valley distribution center in Alabama, they were left with 300k square-feet worth of warehouse space and a lot of unsold canned pears. Being in the market for a manufacturing center, Isuzu decided to pick up the facility with the intention of investing several million bucks to turn the warehouse into their newest North American commercial truck plant.
Over the next few years, 1,000 workers will be putting together medium- and full-size trucks using parts from outside sources. Isuzu hasn't set a date for the retrofitting or production to begin.
One interesting tidbit from the article in al.com, was that Isuzu may decide to build a smaller commercial truck for the U.S. market and has plans to introduce a four-ton truck into its lineup in 2009.
Thanks for the tip, Mike!
[Source: ai.com]
