Photo: Chrysler
To make a long story short, the Kokomo Transmission Plant produced some 300,000 eight-speed automatic gearboxes in 2013. In the first eleven months of 2014, the FCA US LLC-owned facility manufactured a whopping 700,000 units, while next year will see factory's output hike to 1 million examples.
The sixth investment in five years at KTP for tranmission production totals a cool $266 million, coming after a pretty strong demand increase for vehicles fitted with the sleek and smooth TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic. As a brief reminder, its design is based on the ZF 8HP, which debuted back in 2008.
“Since the launch of the eight-speed, employees at Kokomo Transmission have been working practically round the clock to produce this advanced, fuel-efficient transmission,” explained Brad Clark, head of powertrain manufacturing. “We are pleased that vehicles equipped with this transmission have been so well received by consumers. This investment will give us the additional capacity we need to make it available across even more vehicles in our product line."
In production at the Kokomo, Indiana FCA US LLC facility since 2012, the TorqueFlite 8-speed automatic transmission is now available on nameplates such as the Chrysler 300, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Dodge Durango and Ram 1500 light-duty pickup truck. Fiat-Chrysler is adamant that this sixth and latest $266 million investment will see the retention of KTP's employment.
According to the Italo-American company, the investment will be used to purchase new equipment and tooling, adding more assembly capacity within Kokomo's existing floor space. With the Council’s approval, work in the plant will begin immediately and be completed in the third quarter 2016.
“Since the launch of the eight-speed, employees at Kokomo Transmission have been working practically round the clock to produce this advanced, fuel-efficient transmission,” explained Brad Clark, head of powertrain manufacturing. “We are pleased that vehicles equipped with this transmission have been so well received by consumers. This investment will give us the additional capacity we need to make it available across even more vehicles in our product line."
In production at the Kokomo, Indiana FCA US LLC facility since 2012, the TorqueFlite 8-speed automatic transmission is now available on nameplates such as the Chrysler 300, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Dodge Durango and Ram 1500 light-duty pickup truck. Fiat-Chrysler is adamant that this sixth and latest $266 million investment will see the retention of KTP's employment.
According to the Italo-American company, the investment will be used to purchase new equipment and tooling, adding more assembly capacity within Kokomo's existing floor space. With the Council’s approval, work in the plant will begin immediately and be completed in the third quarter 2016.
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