Chrysler
Group LLC will invest $179 million to launch production of an advanced
technology, fuel-efficient engine for the North American market, which
will be built at the company’s Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance
(GEMA) plant in Michigan.
The investment will create up to 573 new jobs industry-wide, including up to 155 new Chrysler Group jobs.
The GEMA plant, located in Dundee, Mich., will produce the 1.4L,
16-valve Fully Integrated Robotized Engine (FIRE) for use in Chrysler
Group’s growing fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles. FIRE is a
collaboration between Chrysler Group and Fiat powertrain groups and
will include Fiat’s innovative advanced technologies to reduce engine
emissions and improve fuel economy.
“This is one more important step forward that demonstrates our intent
to deliver on the promise of the Fiat-Chrysler strategic alliance and
the substance of the road map we laid out in November,” said Sergio
Marchionne, Chrysler Group LLC chief executive officer.
Production of the 1.4L engine at GEMA will begin in the fourth
quarter of 2010. The first application of the engine will be in the
North American-built Fiat 500 that will go into production in 2011.
Chrysler Group has two plants at the GEMA complex, located at 5800
North Ann Arbor Road outside Dundee. In addition to the South plant
which will produce the FIRE, the North Plant, opened in October 2005,
produces the World Gas Engine, Chrysler Powertrain’s
naturally-aspirated, four-cylinder engine family.
