Chrysler: U.S. Car Engine Plant to Be Jointly Managed

LOS ANGELES January 2, 2003; Gary Gentile writing for the AP reported that DaimlerChrysler AG, Hyundai Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will jointly manage a U.S. plant that will produce a new four-cylinder gasoline engine, an official of DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler division said Thursday.

The plant is one of three the companies plan to build as part of a joint venture announced in May. The others will be in Korea and Japan.

Until Thursday's announcement it had been expected that Hyundai would manage the Korean plant, Mitsubishi would manage the Japanese plant and Chrysler would manage the U.S. plant.

Chrysler Group president Dieter Zetsche told reporters during the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show that the three companies had agreed in December to jointly manage the U.S. plant.

The companies will announce the location of the plant within the next three months, Zetsche said. He declined to say how many people will be employed at the highly automated plant.

"It won't be a huge number," he said.

About 40 percent of the 1.5 million aluminum engines expected to be produced at the three plants will be produced in the United States, although all three companies will own an equal share of the joint venture, he said.

The U.S. plant is expected to be completed in 2005. Hyundai is expected to start producing engines at the South Korean plant in 2004, with Mitsubishi and Chrysler starting the following year.

Speaking about fuel-efficient cars, Zetsche said Chrysler will have a hybrid vehicle on the market by 2007, when rival General Motors has said it expects to be producing such cars.

But he said Chrysler continues to believe fuel cell technology is the best long-term answer to producing fuel-efficient vehicles with zero emissions.

Fuel cell cars run on electricity produced in a chemical reaction combining hydrogen and oxygen. Hybrids may use electric power in combination with a gasoline-powered engine or a combination of a fuel cell and electric power from a battery.

Chrysler is also betting on diesel vehicles in the short term. The company announced in November it would test market a diesel-powered Jeep Liberty sport utility vehicle in North America starting in 2004.