From The Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS, OH -- Ohio, which has struggled to attract new jobs in recent years, is making a bid to land a proposed Toyota engine plant and other possible projects by the automaker.

Gov. Bob Taft and Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson said officials are talking up potential sites for an engine plant in southwestern Ohio in addition to pushing tax breaks and other incentives to keep and attract automotive jobs.

The state has identified three potential industrial sites -- in Clinton, Fayette and Preble counties, according to an Oct. 19 letter from Taft to Seiichi Sudo, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America. Any of those locations would provide ample skilled labor and offer excellent access to suppliers Toyota has developed in the northern Kentucky region, Taft wrote.

He also sent a letter Dec. 2 to Toyota on the matter.

Ohio is offering free land and up to $30 million in grants over 15 years to help with infrastructure improvements and worker training, Taft wrote.

Toyota spokesman Daniel Sieger said the automaker is considering whether to build a fifth North American engine plant but could not discuss details, including when a decision might be made.

Published reports say officials in Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee and other states are pushing for the project, and Johnson said he expects to hear some news from Toyota this year.

Johnson said Toyota is considering two projects, including an assembly plant. Sieger said he was only aware of the proposed engine plant.

Toyota's other engine plants are in Buffalo, WV; Georgetown, KY; Hunstville, AL; and Ontario, Canada, he said.

There's a good chance the proposed engine plant will be built in the Midwest to support Toyota's assembly operations in Kentucky, but it's not clear what will happen, said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, MI.

Meanwhile, Taft and House and Senate leaders are pushing plans to help the struggling auto industry in Ohio with tax breaks and other incentives.

Taft said he also plans to meet with executives from Delphi Corp. along with General Motors and other automakers with operations in Ohio at the annual North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week.

Parts supplier Delphi, which has 900 jobs in Columbus and 13,000 statewide, is in bankruptcy, while other automakers with significant Ohio operations have announced plant closings and major cutbacks nationwide.

"We can't guarantee the success of any of these automotive companies," Johnson said. "But we can work like hell to attract their investment, and that's what we're doing."

Copyright 2006 The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio. All Rights Reserved.

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