Kansas City Scores $49M Auto Plant

KANSAS CITY—The auto industry continues to recover from its near-collapse during the recession, and the ripple effects have been felt across a huge region. LMV Automotive Systems, for example, just decided to build a new 253,600-square-foot manufacturing operation in Liberty, MO, a suburb of Kansas City, which has become the home of several new manufacturing operations.

“Both Ford and GM have made major investments in Kansas City and made upgrades to their facilities and started manufacturing new products,” Bob Marcusse, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas City Area Development Council, tells GlobeSt.com. Ford, for example, plans to manufacture the newly designed 2015 F150 pickup in Kansas City. “That has created a whole new set of infrastructure needs.”