Denso said its decision to spend an extra US$55m at its Athens, Tennessee, factory, creating 130 new manufacturing jobs, forms part of a healthy North American backdrop that is seeing the supplier exceed its employment ambitions.

Announcing the news at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the component producer said the spend was on top of the US$50m and 130 jobs announced last year to localise gasoline direct injection injectors (GDI).

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The 138 acre site manufactures fuel injectors, oxygen sensors, ignition coils, monolithic carriers and spark plugs for North American customers.

Denso said its GDI system can achieve up to 20% fuel economy, depending on engine size, while reducing CO2 emissions by up to 15%.

“I was crunching the numbers and we have good news and bad news,” said Denso SVP industry relations, Terry Helgesen.

“We announced we would invest more than US$1bn. The bad news is we are off with the numbers of jobs we said we created in the US but the good news is we created 1,000 of 1,200 jobs.

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“We find it necessary to invest heavily in R&D and continue to invest around 9%. About a year ago, Denso rolled out a long term [plan] to protect lives and preserve the planet.

“To some, that might seem like lip service, but I can assure you it is not. We have a significant responsibility, not just focusing on the numbers. Think about that – Denso does not say that to gain media attention – we say these things because we genuinely believe this is our responsibility.”

Helgesen added that, by 2020, world vehicle ownership was expected to reach 1.4bn [while] predictions are that accidents will claim 2m lives.

“That is why, when we talked about our global investment, we said [this] investment was not just in the emerging markets like North America,” he said.