A new line of trucks is rolling off the line at Spartan Motors in Charlotte, and because of it new jobs are rolling in. Company leaders say the expansion will give a much needed boost to the community. At Spartan Motors trucks are built one at a time, but not anymore.
Tom Gorman, Spartan Motors: "This is the highest production vehicle that we've ever had, so to do 10 a day is something that's very, very unusual, when with a fire truck say, we're only doing 10 a week."
Tom Gorman of Spartan Motors says the company will soon produce more than 4,000 of the new N-Series trucks a year and that means new jobs on top of the 50 that have already been created with the start of the project.
Tom Gorman: "We're hoping that that will get into the, certainly the hundreds here over the next year, or two years."
And that's something Charlotte Mayor Dee Smith is excited about. Helping those who are unemployed in his city find work.
Dee Smith: "This is gonna be a great help. This is a huge, huge thing for the city."
And while it's good for jobs, it's also good news for Isuzu. The company expects the new trucks to drive sales up quickly.
Shaun Skinner, Isuzu Commercial Truck, Inc.: "There is pent up need and actually we have quite a number of customers and dealers who've already placed orders to the tune of about 2,000 units we already have backorders for."
So as company leaders and employees celebrate, so too is their city waiting for the boost this new truck will bring. The N-Series truck is generally used by other companies as street sweepers or delivery trucks.
