DETROIT - Chrysler will build a $570 million plant in Saltillo, Mexico, to manufacture the next generation of V-6 engines for the company's cars. The plant, to be constructed near an existing Chrysler truck assembly plant, will have the capability of building 440,000 engines per year.
Chrysler, a majority of which is in the process of being sold by DaimlerChrysler AG to Cerberus Capital Management LP, said Friday that the plant in Mexico is part of a $3 billion investment in powertrains that is part of its restructuring plan. Construction of the new plant will begin in June of next year, with the first engine coming off the line in 2009.
The automaker already has announced that it also will build the same ''Phoenix'' engine at a new plant to be built in the Detroit suburb of Trenton. Chrysler said the new family of engines will be more fuel efficient and part of its plan to produce engines, axles and transmissions that save gasoline.