The manager of the Volvo Trucks North America plant in Dublin said Tuesday that the company seriously considered moving the plant to Mexico during a labor union dispute this year.

Plant manager Tom Murphy told the Blacksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce that Volvo wouldn’t have been able to start its $ 148 million expansion project without concessions by the United Auto Workers and a $ 60 million incentive package by the state.

Murphy declined to explain his statements after the chamber speech, in which he gave a slide presentation about the plant. However, during the speech he said he visited two manufacturing plants in Mexico to investigate the feasibility of moving the Dublin plant, the New River Valley’s second-largest employer.