Chrysler Group LLC announced Thursday it will invest nearly $374 million in central Indiana to boost production of automatic transmissions, a move the company said will create about 1,250 jobs.
The automaker is spending $212 million on new equipment and tooling for three of its existing factories in Kokomo to produce eight-speed and nine-speed automatic transmissions. Chrysler is spending another $162 million to open a new transmission plant in the nearby town of Tipton that will produce an all-new nine-speed transmission.
“Our investments in Kokomo and Tipton are a tribute to the character of the men and women of Chrysler who survived a near-fatal experience and have embraced the challenge of building an enterprise that is able to compete with the best in the world,” CEIO Sergio Marchionne said in Kokomo on Thursday.
The new nine-speed transmissions built there will be more fuel-efficient than those with fewer gears.
Thursday’s announcement brings Chrysler’s total U.S. investment to nearly $5.2 billion since Italian automaker Fiat SpA took over the bankrupt company in June 2009. Chrysler has already added some 8,000 jobs in the United States since then.
“These new investments and new jobs are a testament to the determination we all had — management, labor and our workforce — to making the best of the second chance we were given in 2009,” said Ken Lortz, regional director for the UAW.
People interested in applying for a job should check for available positions on its website: www.chryslercareers.com.
Bryce G. Hoffman, The Detroit News.
