News

BorgWarner expansion to add 378 jobs off Upward Road

BorgWarner's new plant is going up behind the Blue Ridge Conference Center off McMurray Road.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 26, 2026

BorgWarner Inc. announced Tuesday that it will expand its operations in Henderson County with a capital investment of at least $100 million that will create 378 new jobs paying more than $67,047 a year.

“BorgWarner is proud to continue to invest in the state of North Carolina to bring exciting new technologies to market and provide jobs to local residents,” said Joseph F. Fadool, president/CEO of BorgWarner Inc. “We appreciate the grant and continued support from the state of North Carolina to expand our manufacturing footprint here in the United States.”

BorgWarner is a U.S.-based global mobility company, operating 81 manufacturing and technical locations worldwide with 37,500 global workers. A legacy employer in Western North Carolina, BorgWarner operated a plant at Cane Creek Industrial Park in Fletcher before consolidating that facility with a plant in Arden that now employs 714 people.

A new manufacturing plant is going up behind the Blue Ridge Commerce Center, the large distribution-warehouse facility off McMurray Road that was used as an aid distribution center after Hurricane Helene. Borg Warner will also use space in the Blue Ridge Commerce, county Board of Commissioners Chair Bill Lapsley said.

“They’re going like gangbusters out there,” he said.

A $12.3 million incentive package to attract the project included a $3.7 million Job Development Investment Grant from the state and property tax refunds of $2.3 million from the city of Hendersonville and $1.89 million from Henderson County. When it applied for economic development incentives, the company said it planned to invest $5 million to construct a 140,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and $95 million to equip it.

“We are excited and grateful for the continued investment that BorgWarner is making in Henderson County,” John Bryant, chair of the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development, said in a news release. “This is a testament to what the city and county have nurtured together: a community that is attractive to global companies like BorgWarner, in turn creating high paying jobs for our friends and neighbors.”

“The city has strategically grown its manufacturing base the past few years, with a focus on sustainability and advanced industries,” Mayor Barbara Volk said. “It is exciting to see facilities like this locating here and positioning Hendersonville on the cutting edge of clean energy and advanced manufacturing.”

The factory on McMurray Road will make parts for a new line of “microturbine” power generators that can run on natural gas, diesel or hydrogen. At the end of 2025, BorgWarner had about 37,500 workers globally, including about 10,800 in the U.S. and Mexico, according to SEC filings. It reported $14.3 billion in net sales last fiscal year, of which about 18 percent or $2.6 billion came from manufacturing parts for electric vehicles. It booked $277 million in net earnings.

Partners involved included the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development, Henderson County, the city of Hendersonville, North Carolina General Assembly, North Carolina Department of Commerce, N.C. Commerce’s Divisions of Workforce Solutions and Rural Economic Development, the Rural Infrastructure Authority, Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, North Carolina Community College System and Blue Ridge Community College and Duke Energy. 

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NC Tribune contributed reporting.