The Chrysler Groups Kokomo Transmission Plant.

FCA US is investing an additional $266 million in its Kokomo Transmission Plant. The investment comes with the increase of vehicle sales equipped with the popular eight-speed transmission growing. The goal of the investment is to increase capacity of the fuel-efficient TorqueFlite transmission.

Since June 2009, this is the sixth investment made at Kokomo Transmission (KTP). Overall, this brings the total investment in FCA US Kokomo operations to nearly $1.8 billion.

The investment will be used to purchase new equipment and tooling, adding more assembly capacity within KTP’s existing floor space. 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,” said Brad Clark, Head of Powertrain Manufacturing Operations, FCA – North America. “This investment will give us the additional capacity we need to make it available across even more vehicles in our product line.

Eight-speed transmission housings prepare to move down the assembly line at Chrysler Groups Kokomo Transmission Plant. (2014)

KTP has been producing the eight-speed transmission since September 2012. In 2013, KTP produced nearly 300,000 eight-speeds. That number has more than doubled to nearly 700,000 in the first 11 months of 2014. Currently, the eight-speed transmission is available on the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chrysler 300, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Dodge Durango and Ram 1500. The Company sold more than 800,000 of these models in the U.S. through November 2014.

The KTP-produced advanced-technology TorqueFlite eight-speed automatics—first of their kind ever made available to mainstream-brand customers—are projected to power more than one million vehicles worldwide. And their combined effect is staggering.

Earlier this month, KTP was awarded bronze status for its results in implementing World Class Manufacturing (WCM), a methodology that focuses on reducing waste, increasing productivity, and improving quality and safety in a systematic and organized way.

SOURCE FCA US LLC