Meanwhile, John Kime, head of London Economic Development Corp., is in Austria and Germany, where Keiper Canada's parent company is based, trying to build on any name recognition created by Keiper's decision to locate its first Canadian operations in London.
Success leads to other success.
Cornelius said there's no indication Keiper will reverse its decision to build the plant in light of the softening of the North American auto market and DaimlerChrysler's announcement this week to mothball a Windsor plant and lay off thousands of workers across the continent. Keiper will build seat skeletons for DaimlerChrysler vehicles in London once its plant is in full production in 2003. Keiper is a large established player in the worldwide automotive industry and familiar with the cyclical nature of the business. This is their business. By building now, Keiper could well encounter an industry turnaround once in production, she said.