The Wilmington area's only rail car manufacturing company is launching a leasing firm, according to an announcement Thursday.

Vertex Railcar Corp. has started Vertex Rail Leasing LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the corporation, which will serve as a leasing partner to support customers who prefer leasing alternatives, a news release said.

“With the launch of Vertex Rail Leasing, Vertex is well positioned to address the railcar needs across the full spectrum of customers in the market — those who prefer to lease, those who prefer to purchase and those who prefer a combination approach,” said Vertex CEO Donald Croteau, in the release.

The new rail car leasing company will immediately begin offering a variety of leasing options on Vertex-manufactured rail cars, the announcement said. Those leased cars would be made to order by Vertex, according to Foster Sayers III, government liaison, general counsel and public relations manager for Vertex.

In late 2015, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) certified that the Vertex facility in Wilmington meets the AAR specification for Quality Assurance (M-1003) and certified the facility as a builder of new railcars (S-2034), according to the release.

"Vertex continues to scale operations and outfit its facility as the company pursues certifications to build additional types of railcars and expand its service offerings. Hiring will continue at Vertex throughout 2016 as the company takes orders — both for purchase and lease — and works toward its overall goal of producing 8,000 cars per year," the release said.

The rail car manufacturer became known to Wilmington in November 2014 as Vertex Rail Technologies, described at the time by Gov. Pat McCrory as a Massachusetts company that planned to hire more than 1,300 people to make new, safer rail cars for the transportation of solid material and oil. 

Since then, Vertex Rail Technologies changed its name to Vertex Railcar Corp. after entering into a joint partnership with a private equity partner and Chinese rail car manufacturer, China Railway Rolling Stock Corp.

The company currently has 255 employees, Sayers said Thursday.