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Chrysler set to make $266M-investment into 8-speed transmission production

Chrysler will shortly make a significant $266-million investment into its Kokomo, IN transmission factory in a bid to expand production of its eight-speed automatic transmissions. The gearboxes, which are built under license from Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen, have been well received by customers and critics, and according to an SEC filing obtained by Automotive News, the transmissions will eventually find their way to all of Chrysler's rear-drive offerings (Viper and heavy-duty Ram models, aside). According to AN, a Chrysler spokesman says the investment has not been confirmed, but once it is, it'll mark the company's latest in a growing line of investments at the facility. Chrysler has poured $1.5 billion into Kokomo since 2009.

Chrysler to veer away from 'Imported From Detroit' message?

Claim some ground, control that ground and then expand. Chrysler, wandering the Earth like Kane from Kung-Fu when it came to brand message after the bailouts, pulled off the first two feats in only 120 seconds when its "Imported from Detroit" commercial aired during the 2011 Super Bowl. Two years later and now that the brand has a center in the minds of consumers, the Chrysler Group's head of marketing, Olivier Francois, says it's time to move away from the "Detroit" component of that slogan and express the "Imported" aspect.
It is, more precisely, about positioning Chrysler as genuine competition for imports and not Ford or General Motors, but rather Toyota on quality or Audi on technology. A report in Forbes said that Francois not only "wants to attract import owners to Chrysler vehicles by focusing on quality, technology, fuel economy and style," but to "take back the lead in these four things." That is the new understanding he wants people to infer from the idea of Detroit - that the nation's car capital isn't just a patriotic rallying point but a lively competitor for established giants.
Chrysler has been running ads that no longer refer to Detroit, and recent efforts have linked a specific character to each brand - like Jenny with Jeep and Steven with the Chrysler 300 - to create brand separation. Francois hasn't detailed what he plans to do to bolster Chrysler's upscale pretensions, but his efforts would be helped by CEO Sergio Marchionne loosing the pursestrings and the arrival of strong new product.

Chrysler Pacifica-based crossover SUV coming soon

Chrysler is finally going to get another vehicle to support its minuscule lineup. According to Motor Trend, Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said that the company has a three-row crossover based on Chrysler's Pacifica minivan ready to go in as little as 18 months. Moving past the irony that Chrysler repurposed the old Pacifica crossover's name for a minivan, only for that very van to yield a new crossover, this is a vital vehicle for Chrysler that offers some interesting possibilities. Firstly, as we just mentioned, Chrysler hardly has anything in its lineup right now. With the departure of the 200, it was left with the 300 and the Pacifica. Both are perfectly fine machines, and we especially like the Pacifica, but they didn't leave the brand with much breadth for people who wanted something that wasn't a large sedan or a minivan. Both of those segments are giving up market share to crossovers, so a Pacifica-based crossover, one with three rows, will be beneficial beyond just offering another model, but also offering one that is more broadly popular, especially as more companies including Subaru and Volkswagen expand into the large three-row segment. The Pacifica platform also offers some unique opportunities for this upcoming Chrysler crossover. Using such a space-efficient starting point could give this Chrysler class-leading passenger and cargo space. Most interesting to consider, though, is the possibility of a plug-in hybrid. With the heavy lifting done during the Pacifica's development, it shouldn't be too difficult to adapt the PHEV powertrain to the new crossover. Shockingly, plug-in crossovers have only been tried by luxury brands and Mitsubishi, the latter with the Outlander PHEV. So this Chrysler could be in a class of its own by offering a larger PHEV than Outlander, but at a better price than the luxury automakers. As such, we're quite interested to see how this crossover turns out. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.