Va. edges S.C. in battle over jobs

Virginia and South Carolina sparred over jobs, and the Old Dominion won.

An automotive supplier will create 318 jobs in Virginia by the end of 2013 after it closes a South Carolina plant and consolidates manufacturing operations in Newport News.

Continental AG will spend $194 million to expand its 366,000-square-foot Tidewater facility to handle increased production of parts for gasoline fuel injectors.

Continental has operations in 200 locations and employs about 146,500 people in 36 countries. The Newport News plant is its only facility in Virginia.

Like many automotive suppliers facing declining orders and increased costs, the company had been looking to consolidate operations, said Mike Lehmkuhler, transportation team leader in the business development division for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.

The two states were pitted against each other, and the stakes were "to keep what you have and get some new jobs," Lehmkuhler said.

State officials hailed the deal because it saves 576 jobs at the plant and creates more.

"Valuable jobs could have been transferred out of state," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said in a news release yesterday.

Facility costs, ability to expand, plant performance and efficiency, and personnel and labor costs were among the factors that led to the decision, said Michele Tinson, Continental's director of communications for North America.

Incentives also helped, she said.

Kaine approved $3 million for the deal, and the city offered $3.5 million in tax rebates. Two performance grants for $1.5 million each also will be awarded after the company closes shop in South Carolina, expected in 2010, and expands the Virginia plant to add diesel production and increase capacity for gasoline fuel injector parts.

Some of the 440 affected employees from the Blythewood, S.C., plant will be eligible to move to Newport News, though the exact number is not known, Tinson said.

The Continental deal is among a couple of large economic-development projects announced this year for the Newport News region. Two companies, Canon and Areva Newport News, announced nearly $1 billion in investment and the creation of about 1,500 jobs.

Mayor Joe S. Frank said the city works hard to be attractive to businesses.

"We've been very fortunate to have our efforts pay off, particularly in this economy," he said.

Contact Emily C. Dooley at (804) 649-6016 or .