The Times – Shreveport, LA
PAS lnc.’s plans for a Shreveport assembly plant are moving along – almost as fast as the turbine-charged compact truck the company will start building In January.
“The remodeling is completed. The prototype vehicle has been built, and we’ll be doing pilot building with GM the week of Nov. 12,” said Jerry Wilson, administrator of the Troy, Mich.-based company.
Engine assembly will begin Jan. 2, and final vehicle assembly is expected to start about mid-January, he said.
PAS moved Into a vacant 40,000-square-foot building in West Shreveport Industrial park about a month ago and has hired “the critical people” needed to start the operation, Wilson said. Hiring of assemblers will begin in December with between 40-50 Jobs created when the plant is in full production, he said.
Expansion plans will hinge on market acceptance of its product–a GMC S-15 compact truck turned into a high-performance vehicle. The new version–called the Syclone–has an all-wheel-drive system typically found in high-powered sports cars such as Porsches and Ferraris, said PAS President Charles Mountain.
The S-15 will be made at the General Motors assembly plant in Shreveport and modified at PAS, which also produced the 1989 Indianapolis 500 pace car. Although two other GM plants produce the S-15, only those built at the Shreveport plant will be modified into the Syclone, Mountain and GM officials said.
“The Syclone could have been built in Ohio or it could have been built 15 minutes away from PAS headquarters, but it was a matter of people, not machines,” Mountain said. “Shreveport was chosen because of its reputation for building quality vehicles.”
The high-performance truck–expected to be available in February–is designed to appeal to drivers in the 20- to 30-year age group. GMC has put no definite base price on the Syclone, but industry analysts estimate its cost at $25,000.
Among Its features: a 285 net horsepower, inter-cooled turbocharged engine; anti-lock brakes; 13.5 second quarter-mile speed; and 16-lnch speed-rated tires. Standard features include power windows and door locks, cruise control, tilt steering, air-conditioning, heavy-duty battery and AM/ F’M cassette radio.
