Chrysler Group said it would spend $52m at its engine plants in Trenton and Dundee, Michigan, to increase capacity of the ‘Tigershark’ engine, adding 298 new jobs at Trenton.
Trenton North will receive $11.5m to add an assembly line for the I4 Tigershark engine. With a $40.5m investment, Dundee will convert a line to machine cranks, heads and blocks to supply Tigershark production at Trenton.
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Dundee will continue to assemble the engine, alongside the 1.4-litre [Fiat] Fire engine and the world petrol engine.
Chrysler powertrain chief Brian Harlow said: “In this case, we are fortunate that we had an existing facility that could accommodate the additional capacity needs for Tigershark and one that has the know-how to support that additional production.”
The updated plants are expected to begin production by the end of the third quarter.
Trenton North ceased operations in May 2011 but Chrysler announced a $114m spend a month later to use nearly 400,000 sq ft of the plant to produce core components for the Pentastar engine produced at Trenton South. Trenton North began producing the Pentastar engine in January 2012. In November 2012, the automaker allocated an additional $40m to add a flexible production line that can run both the Pentastar engine and the Tigershark. Trenton North also builds the 3.2-litre Pentastar V6 for the redesigned 2014 Jeep Cherokee.
Dundee Engine Plant, built in 2004, is owned by Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance (GEMA), a full subsidiary of Chrysler that was formerly a joint venture between Mitsubishi Motors, Hyundai Motor and DaimlerChrysler.
