Nikola Switches Plans From Buckeye To Pinal County

By Bret Jaspers
Published: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 - 4:29pm

The manufacturing start-up Nikola Motor Co. is not going to build a plant in Buckeye after all. The company, which makes hybrid semi-trucks, will invest in Pinal County instead.

The City of Coolidge, about 50 miles southeast of Phoenix, will get the plant. According to the Phoenix Business Journal, the company will get a bouquet of tax incentives from Coolidge, including designating the plant within a foreign trade zone. That designation will reduce the company’s property tax assessment from 18 percent to 5 percent.

Nikola will also get reimbursed for 49 percent of the sales tax the city would get from the construction of the plant for a 10-year period.

In an emailed statement, Nikola’s CEO Trevor Milton said, “Coolidge had a shovel-ready 430-acre piece of property with the infrastructure already in place that will shave years off our construction time.” He added, “this decision has nothing to do with the City of Buckeye or incentives.”

In its own statement, the City of Buckeye said it’s disappointed but wishes the company success.

The PBJ reports the Coolidge City Council will vote on the incentives at a September meeting.

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