Governor Bobby Jindal announced Thursday that a new company will take over the shuttered General Motors plant in Shreveport. According to Jindal’s office, Elio Motors will build three-wheeled vehicles capable of getting more than 80 miles per gallon. The vehicles will have air conditioning, power windows and airbags as standard equipment.
The company hopes to begin operations in late 2015 while employing 1,500 people at an average salary of $47,700.
The company’s vehicles will retail for about $6,800 and will come with optional manual or automatic transmissions. On its website, Elio Motors says, while the vehicle is considered a motorcycle under federal guidelines, it’s more like a three-wheeled car.
Another industrial developer will actually buy the 3 million square foot building and lease about a third of it to Elio Motors with plans to rent the remaining space to other tenants.
