Former Visteon plant lined up for Carbon Motors

Atlanta-based Carbon Motors is a step closer to producing its high-tech police cars in Connersville after a bankruptcy
judge authorized auto-parts maker Visteon Corp. to sell a plant it closed there to the city for $500.
 
In
return, the city agreed to rid the property of environmental contaminants at an estimated cost of $4 million.

Michigan-based
Visteon, which filed for bankruptcy reorganization in May, vacated the 1.8-million-square-foot factory
in late 2007.

The city plans
to flip the plant to Carbon Motors for a low price or at no cost.

If
all the pieces fall into place, the start-up could employ 1,550 people at the plant
in three years. Connersville is counting on Carbon Motors to help pull Fayette County’s unemployment
rate out of double digits.

The company announced in July its intentions to move to Connersville, even
though it hadn’t struck a deal with the Indiana Economic Development Corp.

Carbon Motors has said it has
lined up $100 million in private financing. The company in August also filed for a $310 million federal
loan  to help it begin producing its E7 police cruiser.

The federal
program provides loans to automobile and parts manufacturers for the cost of re-equipping,
expanding or establishing U.S. manufacturing facilities to produce advanced-technology vehicles or qualified
components.

The Carbon E7 runs on clean diesel and biodiesel technology. The company said it has orders
for 10,000 cars but has yet to begin producing any vehicles.