By Tim Vandenack, Truth Staff
tvandenack@etruth.com
GOSHEN -- A Norweigan electric car manufacturer is considering construction of a new plant near Middlebury that would employ more than 400.
Think, which produces its autos in Finland, is considering sites in three states, according to a company spokesman, and Indiana is among them. Sites in Michigan and Oregon are also in the running, according to Brendan Prebo of Think.
Company officials are set to ask the Elkhart County Council this afternoon for a tax break to help build the plant here, which would employ 415 and have a total annual payroll of $13.8 million, or $33,253 per worker, according to the proposal. The plant, if ultimately built here, would be located in an existing facility off C.R. 2 just west of S.R. 13 and Think would spend $24.76 million in new equipment for the complex.
Details of the tax phase-in weren't immediately available, but it would last 10 years and the company would be obliged to stay here at least 14 years or risk having to pay back the property taxes abated. With other tax breaks, the county has abated a diminishing portion of the property taxes recipient companies must pay over five- or 10-year spans.
According to Prebo, Think plans to build the Think City car in the United States, an all-electric passenger vehicle that can travel up to 112 miles on a single charge.
"The car is designed, engineered and produced to have the lowest possible carbon footprint with recyclable plastic bodey panels and a fully recyclable interior," according to a Think press release on its plans.