CONNERSVILLE, Ind. -- New life is being breathed into a depressed city thanks to prospects of landing a new specialty automaker to space vacated in 2007 by the Visteon plant, which idled hundreds of workers.

Corporate executives from Carbon Motors are in Connersville Tuesday to consider a pitch from the city to build its headquarters there, 6News' Tanya Spencer reported.

Carbon is weighing options from several cities as it looks for a place to build a new kind of police car.

Connersville rolled out the welcome mat with signs posted in store fronts, over roads and on the former Visteon building.

"We made the short list and we're pretty excited about it," said Mayor Leonard Urban. "We're going after it."

Residents and city officials made a lot of moves over the weekend and on Monday to make the city attractive to a major would-be employer.

"It just gave us an extra push to get some extra jobs done, just like when company is coming to town," said Anna Dungan, a Connersville resident.

Carbon Motors is considering where to build its new E-7 Police Interceptor, a fuel-efficient vehicle built from the ground up specifically for law enforcement. The vehicle will come with built-in lights, sirens, computers and chemical, biological and radiation sensors.

The plant would bring more than 1,300 new jobs to Connersville, a community that has had a high unemployment rate for more than seven years.

"Thirteen hundred families that are now employed with some benefits is going to make a difference in this whole region, not just Connersville," said Bryan Coats, of Fayette County Economic Development.

Many residents said they feel good about Connersville's chances because the space and workforce are already in place.

"We have 989 people ready to go to work. That's all they've ever done is make parts for cars," Urban said. "We built the Auburn, the Accord, the McFarland, the Duesenberg here."

Officials said they hope to hear Carbon Motors' decision by mid-June or earlier. Urban said the jobs would pay comparably to Honda and Toyota.