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Bright to locate tech center in Michigan

Bright Automotive will be locating its technology center — along with 200 jobs and an $11 million investment — to Rochester Hills, Mich., instead of here.

The Anderson-based plug-in hybrid producer decided against expanding near its current home, the Flagship Enterprise Center, for an existing building in Rochester Hills.

Flagship CEO Chuck Staley said the announcement was a disappointment but pointed out that Anderson isn’t out of the running for the company’s future manufacturing plant that is expected to bring about 1,000 primary jobs.

“I think we had all hoped the tech center would be located here in Indiana,” Staley said. “On the other hand, I am encouraged that power train and eSolutions, Bright’s engineering arm, will remain and expand into our new lab space at the Flagship.”

Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm said along with the announcement of Bright’s investment in Michigan, that a total of $420.6 million in new investments have been made in Michigan, creating and retaining 6,293 jobs for workers in the state, according to the governor’s office.

The Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA) board approved $4.3 million in incentives over five years for Bright to relocate there. The company plans to invest $11 million in the tech center in Michigan, one of its locations for research, design and development of the Bright IDEA. The governor’s office said the project is expected to create up to 530 total jobs with more than 200 directly at that Bright location. The economic activity created by this program is expected to create an additional 326 indirect jobs.

Staley said he doesn’t think the $4.3 million in tax credits is the only thing Bright is getting out of the move to Michigan. He expects there are more incentives that may be coming from the city itself.

Staley said the city of Anderson and Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) had at least the same incentive package for Bright to come to Indiana.

Michael Brylawski, executive vice president of business development for Bright, stressed that Bright continues to be committed to Indiana even though the company chose to locate the center elsewhere.

“This announcement has no implications on our current operations at the Flagship and what we are doing there,” he said. “When we were in full operation in 2008, we always did our vehicle engineering in Michigan. What we’ve always done in Indiana is the power train because the battery and vehicle electrification expertise is in Indiana. But the vehicle engineering expertise has always been in Michigan.”

When the recession hit in 2008, Bright, like many other companies, scaled back its operations and pulled out of its Michigan vehicle engineering program.

Brylawski said the company’s decision to locate the tech center in Michigan will have no factor on where the manufacturing plant will be located. Decisions on where that will be are still up in the air, and Bright is still in the process of evaluating different manufacturing sites.

“We are definitely not making any announcements on what the selection is going to be, but the state of Indiana is definitely in the running,” he said.

The biggest factor that attracted Bright to Rochester Hills over Anderson was the expertise that those in that area have, Brylawski said.

“I don’t look at it as a win-or-lose situation,” he said. “It is a win, win. Michigan is a piece of the puzzle, what is attractive about there, is their good base of vehicle engineers. So the goal is, as we grow and get funding, we want to ramp up as quickly as possible. Just as Indiana has a lot of talent in electrification, we are putting our tech center where that expertise is located — Michigan.”

The time-frame on opening up the tech center is unknown as it is dependent on funding that isn’t there yet. Brylawski said they are optimistic about the $450 million Department of Energy loan they have applied for as well as private funding they’ve been seeking.

Contact Abbey Doyle, 640-4805, abbey.doyle@heraldbulletin.com.