Construction of HOLON’s autonomous vehicle manufacturing facility in North Jacksonville is projected to generate nearly $300 million in local economic impact over the next four years. According to analysis by the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida, the region will benefit from more than $200 million during construction and $87 million annually upon opening in 2028.
Construction of HOLON’s planned 500,000-square-foot-facility, which will be Florida’s first automotive vehicle manufacturing plant, will create more than 800 jobs. Upon opening, there will be an estimated 736 direct and indirect jobs – including at least 150 people working at the facility. The sectors benefiting from the HOLON facility include manufacturing, real estate, healthcare and professional services.
HOLON, a subsidiary of the global automotive supplier BENTELER Group, is a leading manufacturer of autonomous, electric shuttles purpose-built to revolutionize shared mobility and sustainable transportation. In September 2024, the company announced plans to construct its facility in Jacksonville – adding to the city’s prominence in the growing autonomous vehicle industry.
The BENTELER Group, HOLON’s parent company, operates six locations and employs 1,700 across the U.S. The facility in Jacksonville will be BENTELER Group’s seventh location and complements HOLON’s regional headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Jacksonville-based facility will annually produce about 5,000 autonomous movers that meet Buy America and Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
Economic development legislation approved by the Jacksonville City Council in June 2024 cleared the path for the HOLON facility, strengthening Jacksonville’s position as the epicenter of autonomous vehicle innovation in the United States. One year later, Jacksonville will mark another significant milestone on this journey with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s (JTA) launch of phase one of the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) this summer.
The U2C program will introduce autonomous vehicles into the JTA transportation system and, in subsequent phases, plans to replace the Skyway and repurpose the existing infrastructure into a roadway for autonomous vehicles. Initially, U2C will utilize retrofitted Ford E-Transit vehicles equipped with autonomous vehicle technology. The JTA plans to evolve its U2C fleet, such as those manufactured by HOLON, as they become available.
