European sports car company picks Danville for new facility

DANVILLE/PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) – An international sports car company is parking its business at Cane Creek Centre in the Danville-Pittsylvania County area because of the region’s strong workforce pipeline and education programs.

The Cane Creek industrial park is home to many notable names like Aerofarms and most recently Tyson Foods.

Now, a European company will also be rolling into the park, driving the economic success of the park that’s split between Danville and Pittsylvania County.

“This is an area that is being looked at, not only nationwide, but worldwide,” said Vic Ingram, Chairman of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facilities Authority. “So, I think because of what we have to offer and the vibrant environment that we have, they just felt like this would be a good place to have their U.S. corporate office.”

RBW EV Cars is the UK’s only manufacturer of hand-built, electric, classic sports cars.

The company is now investing $8 million into a new facility at Cane Creek Centre, creating 144 new jobs.

“We chose that area for a number of reasons, and primarily not the reasons that people think,” said Peter Swain, CEO of RBW EV Cars. “Finance is very important in business, but we believe in a meeting of minds, a meeting of cultures, and a meeting of quality.”

The CEO says they were looking at five other locations across the country including Texas and other states. However, after seeing the local colleges and training programs, Danville won the race.

“Education, especially in EV and training of our workforce was essential to us. When we went around Danville, we thought it was a great setup there. A lot of thought had gone into the future of these people in the community pushing forward. So, it just felt naturally like the right place to be,” added Swain.

The new facility will allow the company to produce its first left-hand drive RBW EV Roadster and GT models for Americans.

“You have a great workforce and great attitudes in the US, especially in entrepreneurship. If we want to harness that and build a big business, then we want to be close to our markets, and we want to be working to have a US built base for our British design vehicles,” said Swain.

They expect to start moving in in the next couple of weeks and begin operations at the beginning of next year.

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