Chrysler Group has hired 204 workers at a new factory in Tipton, Ind., to make transmissions for the Jeep Cherokee and the Chrysler 200 sedan, about a quarter of the total hires planned for the facility.
The factory will employ 600 workers by the end of the year and 850 a year later, the company said. The automaker, fully acquired by Fiat in January, spent $162 million to outfit the 782,000-square-foot facility to build nine-speed transmissions, which improve fuel efficiency.
At full capacity, the plant will be able to ship about 800,000 transmissions annually to assembly plants in Toledo and Sterling Heights, and to Fiat Chrysler plants in Italy, Turkey, Brazil and China, Chrysler said. Production at the plant started last month, said Jodi Tinson, a spokeswoman.
Executives last week laid out a five-year business plan that calls for $75 billion in investments to transform Jeep, Alfa Romeo and Maserati into global brands. The initiative also calls for the Chrysler brand to more than double deliveries to 800,000 by 2018. The two automakers plan to be fully integrated by the end of the year as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with a primary listing in New York and a headquarters in London.